Her Turn
by goku's tail
Summary: This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.
1. Chapter 1

Her Turn

**Summary:** This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

She stepped calmly over the guards mangled body, shaking the blood off her Zanpakuto as she went. Somewhere in the distance she heard the sound of alarm bells ringing and quickened her pace.

There would be no point in all of this if she got caught after all.

Exactly seventeen other idiotic guards met the wrath of her Zanpakuto before she finally met her target. As she cut them down one by one, she wondered half-heartedly if she was supposed to be feeling remorse for their needless deaths.

She wondered if she would feel remorse for killing her target.

She was tearing apart a family after all.

She found him sitting in a rocking chair next to his young son's bed. He did not look up when she entered the room, her Zanpakuto scraping ominously on the floor; instead he simply chuckled, as if he were expecting her.

"Don't hurt them," he said simply, standing up from his chair, "give me your word, you won't hurt them."

She nodded. Her mission brief only required that he be killed, and besides, killing sleeping children often left a funny taste in her mouth.

"And…" he paused and looked at her imploringly, "and there is no other way to settle this?"

She shook her head. Her master's orders were very specific after all.

Kill The King.

"What do you hope to achieve by killing me? The realm will only become more unstable with my death. Is that what you want? Is that what he wants?"

She shrugged. What happened to the realm after his death was not her concern. As long as she got what she wanted, she could care less.

"I suppose he thinks he can do something?" he scoffed, "there is nothing he can do."

She started slightly once he began making his way towards her.

"I don't want to stain my son's bedroom with my blood," he said simply, pushing past her and walking into the corridor.

"You aren't going to fight back?" she spoke quietly as she followed him, closing the bedroom door behind her.

He shook his head, "no doubt you've heard the reports?"

She nodded.

"Then that should be answer enough."

"I promise my blade will not touch your family," she said softly as she unsheathed her blade, "_Remove, Meimei_!" she cried before lunging forward.

In thirty seconds, he was dead.

She worked quickly after that, removing the slim bottle of reiatsu she had been given by her master. She mumbled a quick kido spell to secure her surroundings, before uncorking the bottle and pouring the reiatsu over the body of the man.

Once she had completed the task she took a few seconds to stare at his body.

She wondered why she felt nothing for the man she had just brutally killed.

The sound of hurrying footsteps interrupted her reverie and she turned and fled, disappearing into the darkness.

It was quite an odd feeling really.

She had just killed The Spirit King, and nobody would ever know who it was.

_xoxoxo_

1

His breathing was oddly erratic as he shot out of bed, as if he had just been struck by lightning. Groaning as he ran a hand through his spiky orange locks, moistened with sweat, he slumped back into bed and glared angrily at his ceiling, as if it had personally wronged him in some way. Not for the first time in the last week, Ichigo Kurosaki felt extremely uneasy. As if someone were watching him. The feeling of paranoia had gotten so bad that he hadn't been able to sleep for more than three consecutive hours before his body would violently wake him up, forcing him to search for a potential threat.

It was getting to the point that he wished he had actually paid more attention to Rukia when she was explaining to him the basics of detecting another person's reiatsu. As it stood, his skills in that particular department were extremely limited. The only people who he could accurately seek out by their reiatsu were Chad and, to his surprise, Orihime.

A deep sigh fell from his parted lips as he tried in vain, once again, to detect the reiatsu of his apparent intruder. During the last few weeks he wondered if he was going crazy. Perhaps the strain of being a Shinigami was finally getting to him. He was only 18 years old after all, and had spent the last three years doing things that no teenager should ever have experienced. He had literally gone to Hell and back, to not suffer from it mentally would have been a miracle.

His eyes flickered to the alarm clock that sat atop his chest of drawers and he groaned once more after seeing the time. It was barely after 3am and he reckoned he had about another three hours sleep before his paranoia woke him up again. After glancing around his room suspiciously for a final time, he finally tugged his covers over his head and soon settled into a fitful sleep.

_xoxoxo_

Orihime Inoue stared suspiciously out into the darkened sky of Karakura, her brows furrowed as she scanned the night sky for an intruder. Not for the first time in the last week, she could sense a foreign reiatsu and it made her worried.

She was almost certain that the reiatsu belonged to a Shinigami, which helped to ease her worries slightly since she knew they weren't going to be attacked by a rogue Arrancar anytime soon, but it didn't help that the mystery Shinigami seemed determined not to make his or her presence known. A week ago, when she first sensed the reiatsu, she had searched out for the Shinigami, but she never found anyone.

She had considered telling her friends about her worries that they were being spied on by Shinigami, but she opted against it. Whilst Chad would probably take a calm approach to the news, she knew that both Ichigo and Uryu would most likely fly into a rage and attempt to harm the Shinigami, and who knew what trouble that could bring for them.

With a soft sigh, she drew her gaze away from her window and snuggled down deeper under her bed covers, mumbling a soft wish of protection for her friends and Karakura Town. She sincerely hoped that the appearance of the foreign reiatsu wasn't going to stir up the odd sense of calm that had instilled over her usually hectic life.

For the first time in the three years since she had received her powers, Orihime and her group of highly unorthodox friends found themselves more or less completely removed from the spirit world. Aside from the odd Hollow, (which was more often than not, taken care of by the Shinigami stationed in Karakura), they had nothing to do.

They actually got to live like the teenagers they were, and Orihime could admit that she was enjoying in wholly. She was extremely grateful for her powers, but it was nice to be able to simply hang out with her friends without having to worry about if they were going to be attacked.

It also gave her the chance to become closer with all her friends.

A small smiled lit up her face as she lay in bed, the smiling faces of all her friends drifting into the forefront of her mind. They were more than friends to her now, they were her family.

Her thoughts predictably drifted towards a particular member of her makeshift "family".

Ichigo.

Even now, her stomach developed tiny fluttering butterflies every time she thought of the scowling orange haired boy.

Since the defeat of Aizen she had done her best to quell her feelings for him. There was no point in chasing after him like some sort of lovesick puppy after all. That didn't mean she would ever stop loving him, no, she had already surmised that Ichigo Kurosaki would always hold a special place in her heart. He was her first love after all, and she promised herself that she would always be there for him. If she couldn't do that as a lover, then she would do it as a friend.

It was a difficult task, and the decision to step away from him in that respect weighed heavily on her heart for a while.

To her surprise, it had been Tatsuki who had contested Orihime's decision to take a step away from Ichigo. The fiery black haired woman had to stop herself from physically slapping some sense into Orihime. She'd known her long enough to know that what Orihime felt for him wasn't a silly crush, it was true love, and it baffled her to see her best friend so calmly agree to let her love dwindle.

"_You deserve more than that!"_ she had yelled, feeling angry on Orihime's behalf, _"you deserve more than to let your feelings die just because he's a complete moron! Just tell him how you feel!"_

But Orihime had simply smiled and shook her head. She wasn't going to confess. He had done so much for her after all; burdening him with her silly feelings seemed cruel.

It took a while to convince Tatsuki not to "go over there and pummel some sense into that jerk", but eventually she agreed to respect Orihime's decision.

Nibbling her bottom lip lightly, she tugged her bedcovers over her head and squeezed her eyes shut. A while had passed since her she had made her choice in regards to Ichigo, and she still had strong feelings for him. She wasn't naïve enough to think that her feelings for Ichigo would suddenly evaporate over night, but she would have been fooling herself if she didn't admit that she had hoped they would have lessened by now.

She sighed once more before succumbing to a sleep filled with brightly coloured dreams.

_xoxoxo_

"So, where are you going? What're you doing tonight?"

"Work."

"But you worked last night!"

"Yeah, I did."

"And the night before!"

"Yeah."

"And -"

"Keigo, shut up," Ichigo growled, using all his self-control to stop himself from swiftly punching Keigo in the face to stop his ridiculous rambling. As usual, Keigo did not heed Ichigo's warning.

"I'm just saying," he continued to wail, oblivious to Ichigo's twitching fist, "it's pretty suspicious, isn't it Mizuiro," Keigo roughly poked Mizuiro in the gut.

"Hm?" the boy in question asked, lifting his head up from his mobile for just long enough to assess the situation. Keigo was being annoying - as per usual. And Ichigo was gearing himself up to punch him - as per usual.

"He clearly has another group of secret friends!" Keigo concluded, fake tears streaming from his eyes, "that's it, isn't it Ichigo? You're embarrassed to introduce us to your new friends aren't you? I bet they're a bunch of super hot, sexy ladies with gigantic boobs! Oh the horror~" he continued to blubber, "how selfish of you to keep them hidden away from us, you're supposed best fr-"

Ichigo snapped.

One foot collided with Keigo's face and sent him reeling backwards, blood spurting out of his nose.

"I thought I told you to shut up," Ichigo muttered, ignoring Keigo's new wails of sadness over the fact that Ichigo had attacked him once again.

Mizuiro quietly pocketed his phone, shaking his head with a smirk on his face. They were both so predictable with their actions. If Mizuiro didn't know better, he would have thought Keigo was something of a sadist with the way he continued to rile Ichigo up, knowing it wouldn't end well for him.

"Where are you going?" Mizuiro asked softly, falling into step with Ichigo, both leaving Keigo "crying" by the curb, "you don't usually walk this way home."

"Work," Ichigo lied quickly, running a nervous hand through his orange locks, "that crazy boss of mine keeps making pick up deliveries from all over the place." Well, at least that part wasn't as big a lie, his boss did keep making him trek all over Karakura to drop off or pick up things.

"Ah," he replied simply, before retrieving his phone from his pocket.

Ichigo shot his friend a sideways glance. Mizuiro was a quiet guy, but Ichigo got the feeling that he knew a lot more than he let on.

Shrugging it off, Ichigo and Mizuiro walked on in a comfortable silence, which was soon ruined by a grumbling Keigo, (though they both ignored him).

They walked for about fifteen minutes longer before Ichigo waved to his friends and turned down a small side road.

In truth, he was not doing a job for work.

He was visiting Urahara.

His eyebrow began to twitch in premature annoyance as he pictured the crafty blonde haired shopkeeper. It wasn't like he didn't like Urahara, (he did just about like him), he just found that his patience levels lowered to a minimum whenever he was in his presence. But, he could admit that Urahara was a useful ally and he needed his help.

The paranoia that someone was following him was becoming too much for him to handle, and he figured that if he wanted to get closer to figuring out who it was, Urahara was his best bet.

He opted not to inform his "spiritually in tune" friends about it, deciding that there was no point in worrying them about something that could have very well been all in his mind.

Especially her.

His eyes narrowed slightly, but he couldn't help but reluctantly agree with his Hollow. Worrying Orihime was definitely high on his list of things he didn't want to do. She had gone through so much because of him, been put in so many dangerous situations because of his unstable powers, he made a personal vow to keep her out of danger wherever possible. She didn't deserve to be burdened by him in that way anymore.

When he arrived in Urahara's dusty courtyard, he found Jinta and Ururu dutifully sweeping the yard. Or rather, he found Ururu trying her best to sweep whilst Jinta lolled lazily on the steps, sipping a can of lemonade.

"Hey Ururu," Ichigo waved politely to the young teen as he strolled through the yard.

"Hm?" Ururu glanced up from the floor, "ah…Ichigo-san!" she bowed her head, "good afternoon."

"Oi!"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he walked passed Jinta without a word of greeting. The kid was a brat and Ichigo usually tried his best to keep away from him.

He swiftly strode through the doors and was about to slide them firmly shut, but instead froze as he caught the end of Jinta's annoyed mumbling,

"What the hell are you all doing here anyway?"

"Who?" he asked, confused.

"You and your friends, idiot," Jinta added cheekily, before jumping up and dashing away, just in time to avoid Ichigo's foot.

Ichigo's brows furrowed in confusion at Jinta's words. To his knowledge, his friends had no reason to visit Urahara.

Still confused, he stepped into the store and walked with familiarity to the little room out back where Urahara and his visitors often congregated.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I asked first!"

Urahara used his fan to hide his smirk as both Ichigo and Uryu glared at each other from across the room, both teens demanding to know what the other was doing. He had missed their pointless bickering.

"Ichigo."

Ichigo paused in his argument with Uryu and turned around.

"Chad?" he asked in confusion, staring at the young man sitting patiently in the corner of the room, watching their argument with amusement, "what the hell are you doing here?"

Chad opened his mouth to answer Ichigo's question, but was cut off my Urahara.

"I think," he said pointedly, "we should save all questions until our final guest has arrived."

"Final…guest?"

As if she were simply waiting for her cue, the sliding doors on the other end of the room slid open and their final guest arrived.

"I'm so sorry I'm late Urahara-san!" Orihime gushed as she kicked her shoes off and entered the room, "a little girl got her poor kitten stuck in a tree in the park and, well…I couldn't just leave her crying there so I had to shimmy up the tree and rescue it and then-"

"Good afternoon to you to Orihime-chan," he said hastily, cutting the busty young woman off before she could get carried away recounting her tale, "we haven't been waiting long. Ichigo just arrived a few seconds before you."

"Oh, that's good then, I…" she paused; finally taking in what Urahara had said. Blinking slowly she surveyed the room, "Uryu-kun?" she mumbled with furrowed brows as she finally noticed her bespectacled friend.

"Orihime-san," he nodded politely to her.

"Sado-kun?"

"Hey."

And finally,

"K-Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo said nothing, seemingly just as confused as she was.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he asked Urahara directly, "why is everyone here? I thought I told you I didn't want to get them involved!"

"Tut tut Ichigo," Urahara murmured as Orihime settled herself onto one of the pillows on the floor that had been set out for them, "always trying to shoulder the burden on yourself. When will you learn?"

A vein above Ichigo's eyebrows began to twitch violently.

"Urahara," he growled threateningly.

"I find myself having to agreeing with Kurosaki," Uryu sniffed, "when I contacted you, I did it under the understanding that nobody else would be involved."

"Me too," Chad put it.

Orihime nodded in agreement, she knew she wouldn't have dared to contact Mr Urahara if she knew he would call the people she specifically didn't want to get involved.

Urahara shook his head, "you misunderstand, I didn't call any of you here. This morning I was woken by four phone calls. The first was you, Uryu and I agreed to meet with you this afternoon. The next was Chad, I was mildly surprised by his phone call having just received one from Uryu, but I agreed to meet you as well. Ten minutes later, Orihime called. And finally, you Ichigo. It was most intriguing, as you all said more or less the same thing, 'can we meet? I have a problem and I don't want to get the others involved?'"

"So!" Urahara grinned as he clapped his hands together, "what is this problem you've all been having that apparently only I can solve?" he wiped a pretend tear of joy away from his eyes as he said that.

The four teens looked at each other warily, each wondering what piece of news the other three had that was apparently so worrying they needed to confide in Urahara.

Uryu cleared his throat and spoke first, "for the past week or so, I have been feeling a strange reiatsu…"

Orihime, Ichigo, and Chad all stared at Uryu intently.

"It comes and goes but,"

"But you're pretty sure it belongs to a Shinigami?" Chad finished.

Uryu nodded, using his forefinger to push up his glasses that fell down his nose slightly.

"I've also felt the same reiatsu," Orihime admitted, "that's why I contacted Urahara-san. I wanted to know if you had any idea of who it could be."

"And they haven't tried to attack you?" Urahara asked with a frown.

"No, they're reiatsu is pretty…" Orihime paused as she tried to find the correct word to use to describe it, "stationary. Like they're simply watching us."

"Interesting, very interesting," Urahara mumbled before turning to Ichigo, who was otherwise silent, "and you, Ichigo. Why are you here? What was your big problem?"

"Uh," he kneaded the back of his neck nervously, "same as them, I guess. I mean, I thought I felt something strange and, well…yeah."

"Tch," Uryu scoffed, "I'm surprised you noticed, you're normally quite dense in that area. There may be hope for you yet."

"Fuck off Quincy," Ichigo snarled, his hand drifting towards his representative badge that sat in his back pocket, "you wanna go?

"Gladly!" Uryu retorted, gearing himself up for a fight, however, both were stopped by Chad who rightly grumbled,

"Shouldn't you two be taking your anger out on the Shinigami stalking us, instead of each other?"

"Sado is right!" Urahara barked, suddenly standing up whacking both Uryu and Ichigo smartly on their heads with his fan, "who knows, you may all be in grave danger?"

"You don't need to look so happy about it!" Ichigo yelled, taking a seat on the empty pillow next to Orihime.

"What's life without a bit of danger, eh?" Urahara shrugged, and none of the teens could safely say that they knew he was joking, "anyway, moving along. May I ask why each of you didn't want the others knowing about this supposed mystery Shinigami?"

"Kurosaki is a hot headed fool and would probably attempt to beat the Shinigami to a bloody pulp if he were fully aware of the situation. I thought that it would be more prudent to find out if I could discover a little more about the situation before informing him."

"More or less the same," Chad mumbled after Uryu had finished his rant, "sorry Ichigo."

"Traitor," Ichigo hissed, earning himself a shrug from Chad.

"I…um…" Orihime spoke up, shooting both Ichigo and Uryu a nervous glance, "I didn't want to tell you guys just yet because…well, I didn't want you or Uryu-kun to hurt the Shinigami," she admitted guiltily.

Ichigo frowned, even Orihime questioned his ability to ask questions first and punch later? Maybe he needed some help.

"And you Ichigo?" Urahara prompted.

A faint, almost unnoticeable, blush stained his cheeks, "to be honest…I kinda thought I was imagining it, so I thought I'd come here and see if you knew anything."

"And you didn't want to tell your friends in case you were wrong and they thought you were insane?" Urahara nodded wisely, earning himself a murderous glare from Ichigo that he steadily ignored.

"I guess if we had all just spoken with each other, we wouldn't have had to bother you Urahara-san," Orihime laughed nervously.

Urahara on the other hand shook his head, "quite the contrary, I'm pretty sure that you would have decided to deal with the problem yourselves and caused even more trouble."

"What do you mean even more?" Uryu asked suspiciously, "for the last few months we've more or less completely removed ourselves from the spiritual world. We haven't caused any trouble."

"Hm."

They sat in an odd silence, broken only by the distant sound of Jinta berating poor Ururu in the yard, as Urahara contemplated whatever he was thinking about.

As Urahara thought, Ichigo stared around at his group of friends. He knew he had been naïve to think that they had not detected the reiatsu as well. After all, it wasn't a secret that they were all better at it than he. He sighed, before shaking his head ruefully. It was just as Urahara had said earlier, he was always trying to shoulder the burden solely on his own shoulders.

"I wonder," Urahara pondered out loud, gaining Ichigo's attention once more, "I wonder if this has anything to do with problems in Soul Society at the moment."

"Problems?" Orihime asked, her eyes growing wide as she thought of her many friends that lived there, "what kind of problems?"

"Well, rumour has it-"

He paused and cocked his head to the right, "something is coming."

"Coming?"

Ichigo, Chad and Uryu all took up defensive positions, with Ichigo swiftly taking out his representative badge and stepping out of his body. Orihime clenched her fists to her sides tightly, staring intently in the direction that Urahara was staring at.

They waited anxiously for a few seconds before the wall they were all staring at rippled slightly and a large black door formed in it.

They all relaxed slightly once they realised what it was.

"A senkai gate," Urahara said frowning, "odd, I wasn't expecting anyone today."

The black door opened slowly and a familiar figure came into clear view.

"Rangiku-chan!" Orihime cried happily as the busty lieutenant stepped out of the gate, "what are you doing he-"

She paused as she noticed that Rangiku wasn't the only Shinigami to emerge from the portal. Captain Hitsuguya came out next, followed closely by Captain Byakuya and then Renji stumbled out, followed finally by a very worried looking Rukia.

Orihime frowned as she stared at the group of Shinigami. It wasn't as if she didn't enjoy seeing her Shinigami friends, but it wasn't often that a group of them this big would come to the real world. The last time she had seen a group of Shinigami with this much power between them was when they had dealt with Aizen. Other than that, there was simply no reason for them all to be there. That much power could upset the balance in the world.

"Is there something the matter?" Urahara asked, also sporting a frown, apparently thinking the same thing that Orihime was.

"Yes," Byakuya said heavily, his eyes zeroing in on Ichigo, "something is seriously wrong."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ichigo growled, already on the defensive.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," he began, his eyes still betraying nothing.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia said quietly, her voice coming out almost as if she was begging him to stop, "please, there's no proof!"

"Proof of what?" both Ichigo and Uryu asked. Orihime glanced behind her and noted that Ichigo had one hand firmly planted on Zangetsu, as if he were expecting a fight.

"The Spirit King was murdered earlier this week," Hitsuguya said flatly.

"Impossible," Urahara snapped, dropping his fan to the floor, "absolutely impossible."

"I wish it were so."

Orihime gasped, there was very little she truly knew about The Spirit King, but from what she had been told by Urahara or had overheard from her Shinigami friends, she knew he was an important man in Soul Society. Apparently he was even more powerful than the Head Captain.

"How?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Byakuya turned to Ichigo once more, "you're under arrest for the murder of The Spirit King."

Ichigo blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"They think you murdered him, Kurosaki," Uryu said slowly, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the group of Shinigami in front of him.

"You've got to be shitting me."

"Byakuya, don't be foolish," Urahara spoke quickly interrupting Ichigo's curses and noting that he had begun to flex his fists angrily, and was gearing himself up for a fight, "whilst he is talented, you and I both know he couldn't kill The Spirit King. How would he even get to The Royal Realm? Think about what you're saying here."

"I am not the judge nor am I the juror. I am merely here to escort him to Soul Society so he may be trialled for his crime."

"I don't even know who the hell this Spirit guy is!" Ichigo yelled, slamming his fist into the wall, "how can you accuse me of murdering him?"

"We have evidence. And witnesses who swear to seeing an orange haired Shinigami leaving the castle at the time of his death."

"I'm not the only orange haired Shinigami in the world."

"Witness statements describe him as wielding a large kitchen knife shaped Zanpakuto."

"They're lying."

"Kurosaki," Hitsuguya barked, "perhaps your Hollow took over and went on a rampage."

"Bullshit!" Ichigo growled, "don't even try and use that against me, you and I both know I have near perfect control over it now!"

"What motive would he have for killing the King?" Urahara asked solemnly, "as he rightly just blurted out, I doubt Ichigo had any idea who the King was until recently."

The group of Shinigami shared an uneasy glance between each other,

"There's been some…unrest in Soul Society at the moment," Rangiku admitted, "and Ichi-"

"That's enough Matsumoto," Hitsuguya ordered, "it will all be explained to him when he gets to Soul Society."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Ichigo spat back, withdrawing Zangetsu swiftly, "I don't know what you're playing at, but I don't like it."

"Me neither," Uryu said, and Chad nodded in agreement.

"If anyone get's involved in his arrest, then we have been ordered to kill them," Byakuya said gravely.

"Isn't this all a bit extreme?" Orihime asked timidly.

"The Spirit King is dead," Rukia said quietly for Orihime's ears only, "this is the biggest crime to hit Soul Society ever, they're…they're taking it very seriously."

"But…he's Kurosaki-kun. He couldn't kill anyone."

"We know that," Renji put in, "but the Head Captain, not to mention Central 46 need to get this sorted out. As it stands, Ichigo is their only suspect."

"But why? Why is he a suspect?"

Both Rukia and Renji glanced at one another before shaking their heads, opting not to answer Orihime's question.

"Kurosaki, you will surrender your Zanpakuto and come with us peacefully," Byakuya ordered, "if not, we will be forced to use force."

"Fuck off Byakuya," Ichigo spat, "no way in hell am I going anywhere with you because you've decided I've murdered some old man I know nothing about!" as if to reiterate his point, he picked up Zangetsu and pointed it threateningly at Byakuya, "I've beaten you before, and I can do it again."

"Don't make us do this Kurosaki," Hitsuguya said, warningly.

"I'm not going anywhere willingly with any of you."

His words sparked them off.

It happened in a flash, first Hitsuguya lunged forward, mumbling a kido spell as he moved. Ichigo easily dodged the blinding light that shot from his fingers and moved to swing Zangetsu at the young looking Captain, but instead ended up making the tip of his Zanpakuto graze the wall behind him.

With the size of the room, and the amount of people in it, Zangetsu's size wasn't going to do him many favours.

Uryu noticed his difficulty and stepped forward, producing his bow and arrow from seemingly out of nowhere, he drew his hand back, ready to aim it at Hitsuguya, but stopped as Ichigo barked,

"Stop! You heard them, any of you get involved and they kill you," he said gravely, "this is between me and them."

"You can't hope to defeat all of them," Urahara said slowly, doing his best to calculate their chances of survival if they got involved in the fight. It seemed that Byakuya had been deadly serious when stating they would be killed if they aided him.

"I don't need to," he replied cockily, "just enough for the rest to get the picture. I'm not going anywhere."

"We won't hold back," Byakuya warned, pulling out his Zanpakuto.

"Wouldn't want it any other way," he quipped back.

The two Shinigami lunged for each other, this time Ichigo didn't try to swing Zangetsu at Byakuya until he was far enough away from the wall to avoid scraping it. Their Zanpakuto met each other as they both tried to swipe at the other. Ichigo tried his best to force Byakuya out of the room, knowing that he couldn't use getsuga tenshou inside such a confined space, and it appeared that Byakuya had figured out the same thing. No matter what Ichigo did, the Captain class Shinigami did not go anywhere near any of the rooms exits.

He hissed in pain as the tip of Byakuya's Zanpakuto clipped his shoulder, sending him falling backwards.

"Ichigo!" Chad yelled in concern, stepping forward, gearing his arm to join the fight.

"Keep out of this!" Ichigo roared back, clutching his shoulder that had begun to trickle blood, it wasn't a deep gash but it stung like hell.

"Surrender now Kurosaki," Byakuya said, "from now on, I won't hold back."

Ichigo grit his teeth, but refused to back down. He was innocent god damn it!

Byakuya sighed, recognising the determination in Ichigo's eyes.

"You leave us no choice," Hitsuguya stepped forward, brandishing his own Zanpakuto.

"Now, now gentlemen," Urahara waved his hands worriedly, "two on one is hardly fair!"

But his worries went unheard as the three men lunged at each other.

Byakuya used shunpo to dart behind Ichigo, whilst Hitsuguya took the front.

In all fairness, Ichigo did last a fairly long amount of time against the two captains. Even in the confined space he had, he managed to whip Zangetsu around at lightning speed, sparring against and blocking the majority of the attacks. He sustained a few shallow injuries from their blades, but nothing that hindered his movement overly.

"Why," Ichigo huffed as he used Zangetsu to block an attack from Hitsuguya, "why won't you get _lost_?"

"We have our duties," he replied before holding Hyourinmaru high into the air, "_Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru_," he calmly recounted, turning his blade into the icy demon that was Hyourinmaru.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes as Hitsuguya began attacking him once more. Not being able to use Zangetsu in such a confined space was really becoming a problem. He was just able to manage blocking and dodging his attacks without destroying Urahara's home, or injuring his friends. Getting his own attacks in seemed damn near impossible.

"Kurosaki-kun, watch out!" Orihime called in fear, noticing that whilst Ichigo was doing his best to stop Captain Hitsuguya from injuring him, Byakuya was preparing to release his own Zanpakuto.

Her warning didn't come fast enough, as Ichigo pushed Hitsuguya away and whirled around to face whatever Byakuya was throwing at him, Byakuya had already muttered,

"_Scatter Senbonzakura!"_

Ichigo roared in pain as the thousands of tiny pick petals were aimed at him, piercing his skin. He managed to use Zangetsu to deflect a few of the petals in the wall, but he wasn't fast enough and the majority of them hit him.

Blood trickled down his arms, face and leg. His shihakusho was torn in many places, showing the destructive damage of Byakuya's Zanpakuto.

"Stand down, Kurosaki," he said as he lifted up his Zanpakuto ready to attack once more, "I won't be so lenient next time."

Despite the shooting pain in his body, he managed to shoot Byakuya a somewhat cocky smirk.

"Never,"

A small sigh escaped from Byakuya's pursed lips, "you've brought this upon yourself".

In an instance, the thousands of tiny pink petals shot out of his blade once more and wrapped themselves around Ichigo's already battered body.

The force of the attack sent Ichigo flying backwards into the wall behind him, and in shock he dropped Zangetsu to the floor.

His cry of pain made Orihime want to scream. It was obvious to her, and probably everyone else, that Ichigo wasn't giving it his all because of the limited space he had to fight.

The petals evaporated and Ichigo dropped with a sickening crack to the floor, the majority of his body drenched in blood.

Byakuya placed his Zanpakuto back into its sheath before stepping forward slightly and calmly muttering the words to thekido spell that would presumably render the now heavily bleeding Ichigo incapacitated. His hand darted forward and a beam of bright yellow light shot from it…and hit an even brighter orange wall.

Orihime stood in front of Ichigo's battered body, a look of fierce determination on her face as she stared down at the Shinigami in front of her. The Shinigami who were supposed to be her friends. Were supposed to be _his _friends.

"Move," Byakuya said.

"I won't allow you to hurt Kurosaki-kun anymore," she said firmly, hoping her fear wasn't shining through.

"Move."

She shook her head, her shield not wavering in the slightest.

"Kurosaki-kun is your friend, he's not the enemy."

"Orihime…please," Rangiku begged quietly, "our hands are tied, do you think any of us want to do this?"

"Enough Matsumoto. Orihime Inoue, if you do not stand down, we have been ordered to kill you."

She gulped, but stood her ground.

"I…I won't."

"Orihime please!" Rukia and Rangiku both yelled in unison.

"I…"

"Inoue."

Her eyes widened as she felt Ichigo begin to stir slightly behind her. Glancing around she saw that he was doing his best to sit upright.

"Kurosaki-kun, don't strain yourself, I'll heal you in a moment I promise!"

He shook his head, "put your shield down," although his voice was relatively gentle, she recognised the order he was giving her.

"But Kuro-"

"They'll kill you," he said bluntly, "or…at least hurt you. And then I'd have to kill them, and I'd be in even more shit than I apparently am now, right?"

She swallowed, "but…"

"I'll be fine," he promised.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before Orihime finally nodded.

"Be careful," she begged quietly, before recalling her powers. The second the orange shield went down that protected them from the Shinigami, Byakuya repeated his kido spell and several bright yellow lights shot out and wound themselves around his arms and legs, like glowing handcuffs.

Hitsuguya and Renji both darted forward and hoisted him up.

"Sorry," Renji mumbled apologetically as they stalked past Orihime. Hitsuguya offered her an apologetic nod as well.

"What are you going to do with him," Urahara asked as they prepared to enter the senkai gate once more, "what about his family? His father? Isshin isn't going to be happy with this."

"He will be placed in a holding cell until all the facts are gathered. If he is as innocent as he says,"

"_I am innocent you bastard!"_

"If he is as innocent as he says," Byakuya began again, "he will be returned to your world."

"And if you don't find him innocent," Uryu's cold voice cut across the room, voicing the opinion they all were thinking but were afraid to speak out loud, "what happens then."

There was a pause before, "we will deal with that hurdle when, and if, the time comes," and with that he stepped into the senkai gate and disappeared from their sight.

Rangiku followed him, shooting her friends a tearful gaze, as if she were willing them to forgive her for what they had done.

Hitsuguya and Renji both stepped forward at the same time, carrying the injured Ichigo.

"Ku-Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cried as they both put a foot into the gate, "come back! M-make sure you come back!"

She couldn't see his face, because Renji and Hitsuguya had already guided him more than halfway into the gate, but she heard his reply clearly.

"I promise, I'll come back."

And then he was gone, and only Rukia remained of the Shinigami team who had just arrested their most trusted friend.

"I…I should go," Rukia said shakily, before bowing her head and rushing towards the gate. Orihime stopped her.

"Rukia-chan," Orihime said quietly, tugging on Rukia's arm to stop her from returning back to Soul Society, "K-Kurosaki-kun's going to be alright isn't he? This is all just some big misunderstanding, right?"

Rukia turned away from her, her eyes downcast.

"Rukia-chan!"

"The…the evidence against him…it doesn't look good."

"But he didn't do anything! He's Kurosaki-kun, Rukia-chan, you know him. Probably better than most people," she added quietly, trying not to let that fact tug at her heart strings too much, "you know he didn't do this."

Rukia shook her head but said nothing as she shook herself from Orihime's grasp and made her way towards the portal, before disappearing.

The silence in the room was almost deafening as she whirled around to see her remaining friends. As she turned, something glinted in the corner of her eyesight and she frowned before a choked sob fell from her lips.

Zangetsu lay forgotten on the floor.

_xoxoxo_

His lips curled up into a smile as the messenger boy turned away and left his quarters.

"The Kurosaki child has been arrested".

The slim figure lying under the sheets in the bed behind him stirred slightly, causing the bed sheets to ruffle noisily in the otherwise silent room.

"You're sure?" the figure purred, stretching like a cat in the bed.

He nodded.

He turned and slowly slid into the large bed, the woman lying next to him sidled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his nude torso.

"She'll come?"

He nodded once more, an evil smile gracing his manly features, "she will definitely come."

Everything was going exactly according to plan.

_xoxoxo_

* * *

><p>AN: HELLO, I've had this idea in my mind for a while now and I'm really quite excited to start writing it. Anyway, so this is going to be quite a long story I hope, with quite a few chapters, and twists and turns. Prepare yourselves for OC's and original powers, (OP's?). IchiHime is the main pairing for this fic of course, but it will be slow developing because, firstly: Ichigo isn't around at the moment to realise he loves Hime *sobs*, and secondly, I want their characters to develop, especially Orihime. I have big things planned for her, muahaha. There will probably be other pairings as well, nothing is set in stone apart from IchiHime though, so I apologise in advance if you come across a pairing you aren't fond of! I'm going to try and keep the chapters at a decent length and update regularly, but no promises.

I've ignored the Fullbringer's as you can probably tell, so for arguments sake, when Ichigo defeated Aizen he didn't lose his powers at all.

Hmm, well, review please and tell me what you think. This is my first attempt at a fic with such a detailed plot - and trust me it is detailed oh man you should see my planning document - and I want to know what you guys think, like if you think I should continue or not?

Also, since this is going to be quite long, I'll just tell you now that there will probably be things you want answered, so if you ask me in a review and I don't reply, I'm not being rude, I just don't want to spoil the story for you.

ALSO: Should I post my OC list on my profile now, so their descriptions, history, etc, or wait until they are all introduced individually? It's nothing that will spoil the story, but I was just wondering if people wanted a bit of background on the more prominent OC's?

OK, review please lovelies!

~ until next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Her Turn

**Summary: **This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

2

Sachiko Fujiwara gulped as she stared at the ominous black door a few feet in front of her. She took a nervous step forwards and then recoiled in fear, sensing the overbearing reiatsu that was waiting for her behind the door. A soft whimper fell from her pursed lips, why on earth had she volunteered for this again?

Right.

She wanted a promotion.

Being a member of the 4th squad was hard enough. None of the other squads took them seriously, despite the fact that _they _were the ones who saved their lives on multiple occasions, and Sachiko was ashamed to say that the bullying didn't stop outside of the 4th. If you weren't a powerful member, recognised by the Captain, then you simply got no attention within the squad. It was like they were simply cannon fodder. And Sachiko was tired of it. She didn't spend hours and hours on end with her nose buried in textbooks whilst her classmates were out partying and having fun at the Academy, only for her to be brushed to the side when push came to shove.

So, when Sachiko had overheard a few of the higher up members murmuring about a high profile criminal who would be brought in soon and who would probably need medical attention, she decided to take the chance and immediately ran to Lieutenant Kotetsu and volunteered herself for the job.

Now, she realised in hindsight, she probably should have listened to her lieutenant when she tried to talk her out of the job.

"_It's not that I don't trust you…um…"_

"_12__th__ seat, Sachiko Fujiwara."_

"_Yes, Fujiwara-san, but well…I've worked with the man before and…well, to put it bluntly, he can be very difficult. And considering the circumstances, I'd say his temper isn't going to be very contained. I'd rather assign someone else to the-"_

But Sachiko had cut her off and all but begged for the chance. It had taken a lot of coaxing, but eventually she wore her down and Isane agreed to let her heal the criminal when he was brought in.

She ran a nervous hand through her short mousy hair, before inhaling deeply and taken that all important step forward towards the door.

_xoxoxo_

He didn't bother to mask his scowl as he gently rubbed the sore areas around his wrists where the kido bindings had squeezed too tightly. Once Renji and the others had all entered the senkai gate and it had shut firmly behind them, Byakuya had ordered that they keep conversation with him to a minimum.

"_Abandon all your feelings of friendship, he is to be treated as an extremely dangerous criminal"._

Ichigo swore loudly as he recalled Byakuya's emotionless words. He knew that he wasn't Byakuya's favourite person in the world, but he would have been lying if he didn't say that he had expected better treatment from the man. It hurt him, he realised, to see his Shinigami friends turn on him just like that. They had stood side by side throughout numerous battles, as comrades in arms. Hadn't he proved his loyalty to Soul Society with his help in the defeat of Aizen? Did that not count for anything?

He ran a stressed hand through his tousled hair, wincing slightly as his still open wounds stretched with every slight movement.

The pain was nothing compared to what he'd been through since becoming a substitute Shinigami, but it was extremely irritating and stung like a bitch. As soon as they arrived in Soul Society, his impromptu guards took him straight to some sort of holding room that they seemed to have already prepared for him. Once he reluctantly allowed them to guide him into the room, Rangiku and Hitsuguya left, both of them inclining their heads in what he assumed was apology as they left.

"_You are to wait here until a member of the Royal Guard arrives to begin your interrogation. A member of the 4__th__ will be here soon to tend to your wounds." _

Byakuya had said in the same emotionless voice he'd been using since detaining him. After that he had turned swiftly on his heel and left the room, motioning for both Rukia and Renji to follow him. They both looked at him with guilty eyes before sighing and following Byakuya out of the room.

The sound of the lock on the door being clicked into place made him feel sick.

This was real, this wasn't some sort of messed up joke.

They actually _t_houghthe _killed_ someone.

With a heavy sigh, he settled himself down on the small bed that had been set up in the room. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stared around the room. From his general knowledge from previous visits to Soul Society, he figured that he had been placed in a spare room in one of the barracks. The room was pretty basic, there was a small bed, a sink and a two person sofa. He wondered just how long they were planning on keeping him there.

The worried faces of his sisters drifted to the forefront of him mind and he couldn't stop the sudden pang of guilt he felt. No doubt it was way past dinner time back home, and Yuzu always worried if he didn't call to say where he was. The guilt he felt was quickly replaced by anger. Anger at Soul Society for messing up his life even more than it already was. He had genuinely been trying to remove himself from the spiritual world as much as possible for the past few months, and here they were, dragging him back into it all again.

The frowning face of Karin and the crying face of Yuzu eventually morphed into the unusually serious face of his father and the feeling of sadness in chest tightened even more. Since his mother had died, he knew he had adopted a rather independent attitude, choosing to shoulder his worries on himself and not bother his father with his problems. But now…well now he could honestly admit that he needed his father by his side.

Isshin's worried face faded into the concerned faces of his friends. Uryu, Chad, Urahara, Yoruichi, Keigo, Tatsuki, and finally…

He blinked.

Orihime's tearful face clouded his vision and he felt something tug hard at his heartstrings. He frowned deeper as he watched his imaginary Orihime shed tears over him. Growling slightly, he clenched his fists tightly together, shaking his head to rid his mind of her face. He needed to stop feeling sorry for himself, he had promised her that he would come back didn't he?

The sound of the door being unlocked and then pushed open slowly interrupted his thoughts and he found himself immediately on the offensive. His arm instinctively moved behind him to make a grab for Zangetsu, and for a second he frowned as his hand only grasped the cold air. It took him a millisecond for him to remember that Zangetsu had been left behind, and he felt strangely empty without his trusted blade strapped to his back.

He ended up springing from the bed, and taking a step backwards, so he was hugging the wall and glaring angrily at the door. If he couldn't ram Zangetsu through whoever was about to enter the room, he would simply have to settle with trying to intimidate them with one of his signature glares.

An extremely short woman entered the room. If Ichigo had to guess, he would have said that she was about Yuzu's height, with short light brown hair that stopped just above her chin. She looked like a little kid he decided.

She closed the door gently behind her and then turned around to fully face Ichigo.

He could clearly see the bulge in her throat where she gulped thickly, and he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Was she really that scared of him? He wondered what she had been told about him.

"I am 12th Seat S-Sachiko Fujiwara!" she stammered nervously as she inched further and further into the room, "I…" she gulped again, "I'm here to heal your wounds!"

He made no move to even acknowledge her presence in the room, apart from perhaps narrowing his eyes as she moved closer towards the bed he was sat on.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it lightly as she approached Ichigo. She could clearly feel is reiatsu smouldering angrily and she wondered how stable he was.

"Would you, um…" she paused and gestured towards the bed, a faint blush on her cheeks, "would you mind taking a seat? Please!" she added quickly, wincing at just how unsure and weak she sounded.

There was a very pregnant pause as Ichigo did nothing except glare at her, and she began to wonder if coming alone was a wise idea. Perhaps she should have requested some assistance from the 11th division.

"Fine."

His deep voice startled her slightly as she hadn't been expecting him to speak. Her eyes widened slightly as he slowly pushed himself away from the wall and took a tentative seat on the edge of the bed.

"Thank you," she murmured earnestly.

He simply grunted in reply.

Taking a deep breath, she raised both hands and placed them a few inches away from his forehead, deciding that she would begin with healing the shallow gash just above his brows.

She worked steadily and in silence for a few minutes, slowly healing the cuts and bruises on his face and moving down to the ones on his neck.

She began to relax as she worked, she felt more at home. Sachiko may not have been one of the highest ranked members of the 4th division, but she was pretty damn good at what she did. She took pride in watching the unsightly blemishes on his tanned skin fade into non-existence as she worked her magic over him.

If she was honest with herself, she was rather surprised that he was cooperating with her. From the brief comment Lieutenant Isane had made about his temper, and the fact that he was a dangerous criminal, she had expected him to be more reluctant. As it stood, the only unsociable behaviour he offered up to her was a scathing glare, and she supposed that was to be expected considering his situation.

A light hiss of pain snapped her out of her thoughts and she glanced up at the area she was healing. Within seconds she cursed her foolishness. She had been slowly moving down his body, healing all his cuts and gashes, but had failed to notice a large area of bruising on his torso. Because she had been so focused on healing cuts, she had applied the wrong amount of reiatsu onto the injury, causing him discomfort.

"I'm sorry!" she apologised quickly, reigning in her reiatsu as she gently prodded the bruise, trying to heal the area. She winced as she noticed his muscles tense as she began to continue her work and she tried to force herself not to panic and maintain control of the situation.

"You don't have to be so afraid of me, you know?"

His voice startled her, and she ceased healing him for a moment.

"Eh?" she managed to spit out, her eyes wide and she stared cautiously at him.

He rose an eyebrow at his medic before repeating, "you don't have to be so afraid of me. I'm not gonna attack you."

She nodded shakily, dropping her gaze from his own, "right," she mumbled.

"I didn't kill anyone," he said sharply, jerking away as she attempted to begin healing the injuries on his arm.

"I'm…I'm not here to judge you," she said quietly, still avoiding his gaze as she resumed her healing, "I just have to heal you."

"I'm not asking you to judge me," he snapped, temper rising, "I just want someone to fucking believe me. I've helped you guys out with so much crap, and this is how you repay me?"

Against her better judgement, she couldn't help but ask in confusion, "repay you?"

Ichigo nodded, "with Aizen and all that mess."

"I…I…" she sighed and shook her head, "I'm afraid I don't understand. Who…are you?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Shinigami."

"O-oh."

"Yeah."

Now, Sachiko may not have been the wisest person when it came to the inner going ons of Soul Society, but she would have had to have been blind, deaf, and dumb not to know about Ichigo Kurosaki.

He was a legend in the Academy. The human being who mastered bankai in three days? Who defied Soul Society and rescued his friends on _two _occasions. Who was a key figure in the taking down of the traitor Aizen?

She felt dizzy knowing she was in the same room as him.

"Oi, Samino was it?"

She blushed, "Sachiko," she corrected.

"Oh right. Sachiko, tell me about this Spirit guy I've supposedly killed."

She paused her healing process as she contemplated his question, "I don't know where to begin," she admitted, scratching her head nervously, "he's _the King_," she ended up saying lamely before resuming his healing, "lift up your sleeve please."

He complied, pushing the sleeve up on his right arm up his forearm, "so…he's a pretty big deal?"

A brief snort of laughter escaped the nervous young healers mouth before she could stop herself, "yes, Ichigo-san. He's a big deal."

"You got any idea why they think I killed him?"

She shook her head, "I don't know anything," she admitted bitterly, "I...I didn't even know who it was I'd be treating."

He didn't say anything else to his healer, instead he decided to focus his attention on watching her heal his arm. Whenever he let his mind drift off to the severity of the situation he was actually in, a ripple of anger would swim through his body and he decided he was better off not taking his anger out on the one person so far who seemed even a little bit interested in helping him.

_xoxoxo_

Two sharp knocks distracted his attention away from the faint green glow Sachiko was making appear on his forearm and his eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion.

"Ah, t-that'll be the representative from the Royal Guard, come to…um," she avoided his gaze as she pushed herself up to get the door, "to question you."

He nodded curtly, his eyes still fixated on the door in front of him.

Sachiko paused for a few seconds, shooting Ichigo a worried glance. She could clearly sense the sudden peak in his reiatsu and guessed that his temper was beginning to rile up.

"Please Ichigo-san," she said quietly as she walked across the room towards the door, "try not to start an argument."

"Eh," Ichigo replied, blinking in shock at her words. Before he got the chance to reply properly to her request she quickly walked the last few steps to the door and pulled it open.

"Good afternoon," she said politely, bowing her head as she took a step backwards and allowed the people behind the door to enter the room, "I am the 4th divisions 12th seat Sachiko Fujiwara. How may I help you," she glanced up and quickly added, "C-Captain?" after noting the distinct Captain's haori clinging to the young man's back.

Ichigo's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he stared at the group of three people who had entered his room.

"Thank you Sachiko-chan, but your help will no longer be needed."

"B-but, I haven't finished healing him!"

"He'll live."

Sachiko opened her mouth and closed it several times, as if she were trying to build up the courage to answer back. Apparently she couldn't quite manage it, for after a few seconds of gaping like a goldfish she nodded curtly before turning on her heel and fleeing.

Once she had left, the man who had spoken to the young healer walked further into the room.

He had long black hair that was pulled into a loose ponytail and he wore what Ichigo recognised to be the usual Shinigami dress, but judging by the haori on his back, he was also a Captain. However, instead of the white haori that the other Captain's wore, this mans was a dark blue. Behind the mysterious Captain, a tall, large breasted woman followed, she glared angrily at Ichigo as she stood beside her Captain, and Ichigo glared back - not one to be intimidated by anyone. Judging by the dark blue band wrapped around her upper left shoulder, she was his Lieutenant. The final person who walked in surprised Ichigo the most. He didn't know who he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't the young blonde haired child who ambled in. Her hair was pulled into two pigtails and she wore a bright grin on her face, that made her look even younger and youthful than Yachiru. She appeared to pay no attention to Ichigo and skipped across the room before settling herself on the sofa. From the insides of her pink kimono, she pulled out a pad of paper and from the pocket she pulled out a box of crayons. Ichigo was slightly perplexed by her behaviour but said nothing, as his attention was drawn back to the Captain once more.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, I presume?" the Captain said as he strode briskly across the room until he was standing a mere couple of feet away from Ichigo.

"Yeah," he replied shortly, "and who the hell are you?"

He briefly considered Sachiko's plea for him not to start an argument but quickly pushed it aside, he wanted to get home already.

He rose an eyebrow but said nothing about Ichigo's rudeness, instead he stuck out a cordial hand,

"Captain of the Royal Guard, Masao Gato."

Ichigo did not shake his hand, instead he glared up at him defiantly,

"So you're the idiot who got me arrested, huh?"

"Have some respect for your superiors, brat!" the woman spoke up, stepping forward angrily, "you will refer to the Captain as either Captain or Sir or-"

"Calm down Riru-chan," Masao said, waving a lazy hand in the air, "you've read his file. Young Kurosaki here doesn't respond well to authority."

"What files?" Ichigo asked curiously, wondering what Soul Society had written about him, "and what the hell do you want with me?"

Masao took a step backwards, his eyes narrowed as he surveyed Ichigo properly, "you haven't been told? You're our primary suspect in regards to the murder of the…" he paused, a hint of sadness showing on his face, "the murder of the Spirit King."

Ichigo's fists reflexively clenched at his words, "and I already told Byakuya when they arrested me, I don't know what you're talking about!" he ground out angrily.

"And what if I told you we have evidence that you were by the King at his time of death?"

"It's wrong."

"And if I told you we have several eyewitnesses who have described a Shinigami fitting your description fleeing the scene?"

"They're wrong."

Masao rose a slim eyebrow, but said nothing. Riru on the other hand, stepped forward,

"Listen kid," she began, running a hand through her long red locks, "we want to help you, but you have to help us," she purred, leaning forward slightly so her robes fell open at the breast.

"Not gonna work," Ichigo said bluntly, swiftly turning his head to the side, "I've met Matsumoto."

Her hiss of indignation brought a grim smile to Masao's lips,

"Relax Riru-chan," he said slowly, placing a gentle hand over her shoulder, "it appears your methods of interrogation aren't going to work here."

"What kind of teenager is he," she mumbled angrily, taking a step backwards, her ego feeling rather bruised.

Despite the severity of the situation, Ichigo couldn't help the smirk from spreading over his face as he watched her recoil backwards.

"She's right you know, Kurosaki," Masao said, "if you're as innocent as you say, prove it. Explain to me how your reiatsu was found lingering over the Kings dead body. Go."

His tone was calm, but with underlying ripples of authority and anger.

"I don't know," Ichigo replied exasperatedly, "how do you even know it's mine?"

"Soul Society keeps a sample of all active Shinigami's reiatsu on file, think of it as our version of you human's fingerprinting system for criminals. Everyone's reiatsu is unique and the reiatsu found by the King was undoubtedly yours."

"So explain how it got there," Riru reiterated harshly.

Ichigo opened his mouth to respond, but quickly slammed it shut again.

"Well…?"

He shot Riru a scathing glare, deciding that she was rapidly climbing to the top of his list of people he loathed.

"I don't know," he admitted sullenly, dropping his gaze from his two interrogators, "but I didn't do it."

Riru nodded to herself as she crossed her arms over her chest and let out a victorious, "ha!"

Masao on the other hand sighed before scratching at his head.

"Riru-chan, take Aiko and wait outside for me please."

Riru blinked, "excuse me? Why?"

"I want to have a little chat with Ichigo privately. Man to man if you will."

Riru stared closely at Masao for a few seconds before reluctantly nodding, "yes Captain," she then pointed dramatically at Ichigo, "don't think that because I'm not here, the Captain'll go easy on you. You hear?"

"_Riru_," Masao said firmly, dropping the honorific, "please."

She blushed lightly before turning around and hollering, "Aiko! Aiko! _Aiko!_"

The little blonde haired girl, Aiko, did not reply. In fact, she made no move to even act like she had heard Riru's hollers.

Masao shook his head in defeat as he and Ichigo watched Riru march across the room and grab Aiko's hand.

"I'll be with you two shortly," Masao said as they crossed the room, "see you later."

"See you," Riru waved lazily as she exited the room, with Aiko waving happily as she allowed the older woman to drag her out.

"I don't know how many times I've told her," Masao said with a sigh as he settled himself down on the bed next to Ichigo - much to Ichigo's displeasure, "stop yelling at her, it's a waste of time."

Ichigo didn't reply, instead he shuffled further towards the other edge of the bed.

"She's deaf you know," Masao continued, acting like he didn't notice Ichigo edging away from him, "Aiko."

"Oh," Ichigo muttered, understanding now why Aiko didn't reply to Riru's yells, "who is she to you?" he asked with interest, wondering what prompted him to bring the small girl with him in a manner that reminded him of Zaraki's relationship with Yachiru.

"Someone I owe everything," he replied cryptically before shaking his head and saying, "I believe you, you know? I've read your file. The noble substitute Shinigami who risked everything to help Soul Society with the whole Aizen catastrophe-"

"I didn't do it for Soul Society," Ichigo butt in, scowling, "I did it to protect my friends. That's all."

Masao smiled, "either way, you did Soul Society a great favour with all your help back then."

"And I'm still being treated like a criminal now?"

His smile vanished, "the murder of the Spirit King is a very serious matter. What you've done for Soul Society will give you very little help here."

"Why would I murder him? What would I have to gain? I don't give a fuck about the politics of Soul Society or whatever the hell's happening over here!" he snapped angrily, jumping up from the bed and pacing forwards a few steps, "I was trying to get _away _from this stupid world. Trying to live a normal life. I didn't do _anything_!"

"No matter what you say, the odds are stacked against you. Your reiatsu was found at the scene of the crime. And we have eyewitnesses willing to testify against you. Your word counts for very little."

"Well it shouldn't!"

"I agree."

There was a pause as Ichigo appeared to struggle with trying to find a way to phrase his next sentence.

"What's going to happen to me," he ended up blurting out, a look of strange innocence on his face. It was at that moment that Masao really appreciated how young Ichigo really was, on how many life threatening situations he had been in.

_He doesn't deserve this_, he admitted to himself.

"What's going to happen to me?" he repeated, louder this time.

"Your trial has been set for a week from today."

"Trial?"

"Yes. You will be trialled by the judges of the Central 46 Chambers."

Ichigo felt his heart leap into his throat, "and…" he swallowed thickly, "and if they find me guilty?"

Masao paused before lowering his gaze, "it's is very likely that you will be executed."

_Executed._

_Executed._

_Executed. _

He felt sick.

_xoxoxo _

Almost an hour had passed since Ichigo had been arrested and his friends had yet to leave Urahara's shop. Zangetsu still lay on the floor, untouched from when Ichigo had dropped it after being attacked.

Nobody wanted to say it aloud, but they were all worried.

None more so than Orihime, who, if Urahara hadn't teasingly whacked her with his fan, would have bitten her nails down to a mere stub out of worry for her orange haired friend.

She felt guilty for worrying so much.

Ichigo had promised her specifically that he would return and she had no reason to doubt his words. She barely paid any attention to the conversation Uryu and Chad were having with Urahara, instead she refocused all her efforts into recalling any information she knew about the Spirit King.

Admittedly, her knowledge was very limited. From what she remembered from the fleeting pieces of conversation she had heard throughout the last few years, the Spirit King was a force to be reckoned with. She knew that just about everything in Soul Society relied on his power.

Her brows furrowed in confusion as that thought popped into his mind.

"Urahara-san?" she called, not really noticing that she had interrupted his conversation with Uryu and Chad.

"Hm?" he replied, looking up.

She pushed herself up onto her haunches and stood up, "I remember someone saying something along the lines of, everything in Soul Society depends on the Spirit King's power" she said as walked over to the corner of the room he was sat in, "is that right?"

Urahara nodded, "exactly. But not just Soul Society, his power has a sort of domino effect, if you will, on all the realms."

"So," Uryu said slowly, "not only does his power affect Soul Society, but Heuco Mundo as well?"

"Heuco Mundo, Hell and…the Human world," Urahara filled in, "without his power the barriers between the worlds would cease to exist. Everyone would be plunged into utter chaos."

"But he's dead," Orihime said bluntly, "and we're ok. How does that work?"

"Ah, to understand that, you first have to understand how the Royal Family works within Soul Society…

The Kiyomizu Family have been the Royal Family since the beginning of time-"

"The beginning of time?" Uryu cut in sceptically.

"Yes or rather," Urahara amended, "since the beginning of civilised time. Records state that before the Royal Family came into being, the realms were an utter catastrophe. Hollows roamed the Earth unbidden, souls from Hell could enter Soul Society, and all the life of Earth were hunted like rabbits - it was the Hollows who pushed the dinosaurs to extinction you know? The Kiyomizu Family put a stop to that. Nobody is exactly sure why, perhaps they are just a freak of nature, but each member of the Kiyomizu Family is born with an enormous amount of spiritual energy.

"Like Kurosaki-kun's?"

Urahara laughed grimly, "not even close."

"The Head Captain's?" Chad put it.

Once again, Urahara laughed tersely before shaking his head, "the spiritual pressure of Ichigo and any of the Captain's _combined _wouldn't hold a torch to the power members of the Kiyomizu Family hold. Remember, they have to support the foundation of four separate realms on a daily basis, that's not even including the Royal Realm, whilst still going about their own daily duties. They have to provide enough reishi for billions of souls. If the King wanted to, he could flatten us with barely a twitch of his finger."

"Wow," Orihime murmured, trying to fathom just how strong the Spirit King was.

"Wow indeed," Urahara agreed, allowing a small smile to grace his features as he realised just how awestruck his three listeners were, "which is why nobody else can rule over Soul Society apart from a direct descendent of the Kiyomizu Family. Understood?"

"This still doesn't explain how we're all not about to be attacked by Hollows and the like," Uryu commented with a slight frown.

Urahara waved his fan lazily in front of Uryu's face, "I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it!"

Orihime suppressed a giggle as she watched Uryu twitch in annoyance as Urahara's fan slapped his cheeks.

"I've heard from a reliable source-"

"So Yoruichi-san," Chad said quietly, and both Orihime and Uryu nodded in agreement.

"Fine, yes! I've heard from Yourichi that Soul Society has spent the last couple of months in a state of turmoil. A few months ago, The Spirit King fell ill, and the illness affected his spiritual power. It was weakened drastically, and the inhabitants of Soul Society were witness to the destruction it caused. There were tales of Hollows in Rukongai, crumbling buildings and just simply not enough spiritual energy to go around some days. To try and rectify the problem, and - I assume - in case of an untimely death that would only worsen the problem, the King poured every single ounce of his spiritual energy into several reservoirs dotted around the realms. It by no means fixed the situation, instead it has left the realms in the state they were in before he died."

"Why would anyone want to kill the King?" Uryu asked.

"And why do Soul Society think Kurosaki-kun did it?" Orihime added.

"I believe I can answer those two questions."

The unexpected addition of a new voice startled the group and four pairs of eyes darted towards the door.

"Yoruichi-san!" Orihime cried with a smile as she noted the tall purple haired woman leaning casually against the doorframe.

Yoruichi offered up a wave in way of greeting as she entered the room properly, "yo."

"I was wondering when you'd get back," Urahara commented casually as Yoruichi propped herself up against the window frame.

"Mmm, well I was meant to come back earlier this morning, imagine my surprise when I hear a rumour that Ichigo's about to get arrested for killing the King."

"So you thought you'd nose around?" Urahara said with a grin.

"Exactly," she replied with an equally large catlike grin on her face.

"You believe that Kurosaki-kun didn't do anything, right?" Orihime asked earnestly, her eyes wide as she wondered what Yoruichi thought.

"Tch," she scoffed, "Ichigo kill the King? I doubt the brat even knew that the Royal Realm existed until today."

Uryu nodded in agreement.

"You said you knew why someone would want to kill the King, and why Ichigo's getting blamed," Chad prompted.

"Urahara's told you about the Kings illness, right?"

They all nodded.

"Well…because of it, a lot of people wanted him to give up his throne to one of his children."

"Why didn't he?"

"They're both very young, the eldest is only 14 years old. You can imagine why he didn't want to give the throne to her. Because of his refusal to give the throne up, and the rapidly declining state of Soul Society things got…violent. And," she sighed, "well, you know how it ended."

"But why is Ichigo getting blamed for his murder? We had no idea of the situation in Soul Society until now."

"I'm not too sure _why _he's been framed for this," she admitted, "but I do know why he's their prime suspect. His reiatsu was found at the scene of the crime, and they have several eye witnesses who swear they saw a Shinigami matching his description fleeing the Royal Palace around the time of death."

"But they're lying!" Orihime burst out, feeling outraged on Ichigo's behalf, "Kurosaki-kun would never do anything like that! _Never, ne-"_

"_We _know that, Orihime," Yoruichi said with a frown, "but someone…someone out there is out to get Ichigo, and so far, they're doing a pretty good job of it."

The knowledge that someone was vindictively attempting to frame Ichigo for the murder of the King was sickening.

"What's going to happen to him?" Uryu piped up, "being accused of killing the King is a serious crime."

Orihime gulped as she stared at Yoruichi, waiting for her answer. She wanted her to laugh it off and say something like,

"_Oh, he'll be back next week_,"

But deep down she supposed she knew those words would never come out of her mouth.

"A trial has been set for next week…"

"And?"

"…should the trial go well, he'll be released and allowed to return back to Karakura."

There was a silence before Orihime said slowly and quietly,

"And if the trial doesn't go well? What happens then?"

Yoruichi didn't reply.

"What happens?" Orihime prodded, her hands balling up into tiny fists.

Still no replys.

"Yoruichi-san…what happens to Kurosaki-kun?"

"It's very likely that," she paused, "Orihime please, you don't need to hear this and-"

"What happens," she demanded, her voice thick with unshed tears, "I need to know."

"It's very likely that he will be sentenced to execution."

"Ex…execution?" she whispered back, "they'll kill him?"

The sullen and regretful nod Yoruichi gave her made bile rise in her throat.

_xoxoxo_

* * *

><p>AN: HELLO, I'm so pleased (mostly, one flame haha) with the feedback I've been given for this so far. You may or may not have noticed I've posted an OC list on my profile. It's not a full list, I'll add to it when I reveal more important OC's as they come, but it's a start!

For anyone wondering, Ichigo's power level is more or less before he entered that world with Isshin to train!

Anyway, I'll try and update soon, I would have updated this chapter sooner but I had exam week at university and then two weeks off which I admittedly spent partying but hey, it's here now!

REVIEW LOVELIES

until next time~


	3. Chapter 3

Her Turn

**Summary:** This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

__3

The week running up to his trial passed like one big blur for the young healer.

She could vaguely remember attending class, or hanging out with her friends, or even working. All her memories were hazy, a clear sign that her mind was elsewhere.

As much as she tried, she just couldn't put Ichigo's situation out of her mind. It seemed cruel to simply go about her daily life, whilst her friend and object of her affections was awaiting trial all alone.

She sighed lightly as she walked down the familiar gray pavement, her heart literally ached when she thought about Ichigo's predicament.

_At least it's almost over_, she mumbled quietly to herself as she turned the final corner and began walking up the pathway to the home she was about to visit. She took solace in the fact that, by tomorrow morning, if all went well, Ichigo would be back safe and sound in Karakura once again.

Her heart beat seemed to quicken as she firmly pressed the doorbell to the home in front of her. The muffled sound of footsteps reached her ears and she took a hesitant step backwards, wondering perhaps if she was overstepping her boundaries.

Although her friendship with the two Kurosaki girls had developed since the two had started high school she still didn't know either girl particularly well and she had only met Isshin on a few occasions.

_Maybe this isn't the best idea._

The thought of being a nuisance, or being considered rude washed over her body and she took another step backwards and turned around, hoping that the Kurosaki family would just shrug off the doorbell ringing as a silly prank from some of the kids in their neighbourhood.

_Really_, she scolded herself as she quickly walked down the pathway, _I'm just being selfish_

"Orihime-chan?"

She froze. It was rather comical actually watching the auburn haired teen turn slowly around to face the person who spoke, a guilty blush on her face as if she had just been caught stealing the last cookie from the cookie jar.

"Aha! I thought it was you," Isshin Kurosaki gave her a warm grin, seemingly oblivious to her sudden discomfort, "what are you doing here? Come in! Come in!"

She barely had time to let out an awkward squeak before Isshin had made his way down the pathway, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and then, rather roughly actually, dragged her into his home.

"So," Isshin clapped his hands together after shutting the front door once they had entered the house, "what can I do for you today?" his grin faded slightly as he inspected her, "you're not ill are you?"

She shook her head to assure him that she was fine, "I…ah…"

"Yes?" he prodded.

She gulped, wondering how to phrase what she was going to say.

"It's about Ichigo isn't it?"

She didn't miss the way his easy going smile dropped from his face, and his voice took on a more serious tone.

"Yes…" she admitted quietly, dropping her gaze, "I…I didn't want to intrude but, Urahara-san told me that…that, his trial is happening today and you're going there. To Soul Society, I mean."

He sighed before answering, "yes, I'm going. I need to sort out this mess," before continuing, he shot her a piercing stare, "you're not thinking about asking if you can come with me are you? Because even if there was any way Soul Society would allow it, I wouldn't do it."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"The trial," he said slowly, "it's not going to be pretty," he felt guilty admitting those words to the young woman, but it was the truth.

"But he's innocent! Surely they'll realise that and, and-"

Isshin shook his head, "Central 46 are brutal. Innocent or not, and _I _know he is, he's going to be put through a lot."

"It's not fair," she mumbled quietly, balling her fists together, "it's just not fair."

"Unfortunately the world doesn't run on fairness," Isshin agreed with a heavy heart, "so…not to push you away, but is that all?"

"Oh! No, sorry!" she shook her head and let out a nervous giggle, "I…um…well I wasn't even going to ask if I could come along. I," she blushed, "I just wanted to know if you wanted anyone to stay with the girls while you were gone? Just because you might be gone a while and it must be worrying for them and, well…" she stopped and waved her hands wildly in front of her face, "never mind actually! I'm sorry if I've overstepped any boundaries, ah, I'll just go and-"

Considering the serious turn their conversation had taken, Orihime was rather surprised when Isshin suddenly let out a loud bellow of laughter before slapping an arm around Orihime's shoulder,

"You're a strange one, Orihime-chan."

Her eyes widened and her blush deepened,

"_S-strange?"_

"But strange is good," Isshin continued, appearing not to hear her splutters, (he was getting rather good at that), "there's no need to be so worried. I'd be extremely grateful for you to look after the girls for me. If I'm honest, I was wondering what I was going to do about that."

"Do they both know about what's happening?"

"Karin does," Isshin answered with a frown, "she felt his reiatsu disappear and wanted to know what happened. There's no getting past that girl."

"And Yuzu-chan?"

"She knows where he is, but she doesn't know the circumstances, which is for the best."

Orihime's eyes widened in surprise, the last time she had heard, Yuzu was the one member of the Kurosaki family who didn't know about the Shinigami lifestyle her brother led.

"I wanted to keep her sheltered from that lifestyle at least, but…well, considering the situation, I had to let her know. She took it pretty well, she has a lot of questions."

"That's understandable," Orihime agreed, remembering just how overwhelmed she had felt when she first received her powers and learnt about just how active the after life really was.

There was a rather pregnant pause for a few long seconds, during which Orihime began fiddling awkwardly with the hem of her shirt before Isshin smiled.

It wasn't the same goofy and over exaggerated smile he had worn throughout the majority of their conversation, but instead was a small and genuine smile.

It took her aback slightly.

"He's lucky to have you, you know? I approve!"

If the smile had taken her aback, then that statement just about knocked the young healer off her feet.

"A-approve of what?" she squeaked out in confusion.

Isshin simply winked at her before draping his arm around her shoulder once more, (why had she never noticed just how touchy feely the man was before?).

"You're a good friend Orihime-chan, exactly what he needs right now!"

The genuine smile was gone and was once again replaced with his trademark goofy grin, and Orihime had to admit that she preferred it that way. With the way he was speaking and looking at her earlier, she could have sworn that he was staring right into her very soul and knew how deep her feelings truly ran for his eldest child.

"Right!" Isshin suddenly clapped, twirling around dramatically, "my beautiful daughters will be home from school soon and I'll have to leave soon after that. Do you want to go home and pick up anything you'll need for the night?"

"For the night?"

Isshin nodded, "I'm not sure how long this will last, you may need to spend the night, is that ok?"

She nodded in response, not trusting her voice, and severely hoping that Isshin would opt not to comment on the rapidly growing blush on her cheeks.

Thankfully, Lady Luck appeared to be on her side and Isshin didn't mention it.

"Ok, well I'll just go and grab some clothes," Orihime replied eventually, "t-thank you for letting me do this Kurosaki-san," she said gratefully.

"It's Isshin! Isshin!" he said with a fake stern look on his face, "and the thanks is all mine Orihime-chan. I already said, Ichigo is lucky to have you, and apparently so am I. Now hurry up and go before you combust," he laughed, deciding to finally comment on the now almost permanent redness of her cheeks.

_xoxoxo_

It felt as if his scowl hadn't left his features once during the week he stayed incarcerated in Soul Society.

He was kept locked in the room he had first been put in, and the only other human contact he received, apart from the earlier visit from Masao and Riru, was from the low level Shinigami who delivered his food three times a day.

He had tried asking the nameless Shinigami questions about his situation, but it appeared that they had been ordered not to speak to him, for they would always stare at him with wide, fearful eyes before gasping and fleeing from the room as quickly as possible.

It was infuriating and he decided that as soon as this ordeal was over and done with, Soul Society were going to have to work pretty damn hard to get on his good side again.

"Where are we going exactly?"

His question was directed at either of the two Shinigami guards that flanked either side of him.

He got no answer, not that he'd been expecting one. The only words he'd heard from his two guards were his summons to his trial and then the subsequent kido spell they murmured afterwards to bind his arms behind his back.

A tired sigh fell from his lips as he resigned himself to the fact that they wouldn't say anything to him. The only consolation in all of this was the fact that it would all be over in a few hours. Or so he hoped.

In the week that passed whilst waiting for his trial, he was slightly ashamed to admit that he had spent several nights lying awake with worry - something that seemed to make his Hollow extremely annoyed.

_He _knew he was innocent, and he knew that if Soul Society really thought about his character and the facts, _they _would find him innocent as well, but…he couldn't deny that there was a hint of doubt lingering at the back of his mind.

What if something went wrong, and he _was _found guilty? He couldn't fathom how that could happen, but he was a logical man and knew that if they were going through all this trouble than they obviously thought he was guilty.

That was what worried him the most.

What information did they supposedly have on him that made them so confident of his guilt?

He remembered Masao saying that eye witnesses had apparently testified to seeing him fleeing the scene, and every time he recalled that tid-bit of information he felt his blood pressure rise.

The supposed eye witnesses had rapidly climbed to the top of his list of people he wanted to pummel into a pulp once the ordeal was over.

There was also the issue of his reiatsu being found by the scene of the crime. That was the most confusing aspect of it all for him.

He knew there was simply no way he could explain that, for he didn't understand it himself. He wasn't even aware there was a way of keeping a Shinigami's reiatsu on record and he half heartedly wondered if someone had stolen his sample and poured it over the scene.

Even that idea seemed farfetched to him, but it was the best he could come up with. Something that was causing him much frustration.

_**You don't have to tell me.**_

He winced as the familiar voice spoke out.

_Sorry_, he replied. It was uncharacteristic for him to be apologising to the Hollow that lived within him, but this was one time he knew the apology was needed. The whole ordeal of being arrested and essentially betrayed by Soul Society had caused him to be in a worse than foul mood almost all the time.

His inner world was a mess.

_**Stop apologising and sort it out**_.

Ichigo nodded as the snarling voice faded once more into his subconscious. For once, he couldn't even muster up the annoyance to snap back at his rude Hollow. He couldn't imagine it was very comforting being forced to live in torrential rain for the last week.

_If this all goes well, it'll be back to normal in a few hours_, he mumbled to himself, knowing that both his Hollow and Zangetsu would be listening.

His two guards kept Ichigo walking for a short while longer before they arrived at a large brown building that was surrounded by black wrought iron gates. Several dozen additional guards flanked the perimeter and it didn't go unnoticed by Ichigo that all of their harsh glares were fixated firmly on him, and several of them had their hands already resting on their weapons.

He held his glare steady as he walked past them, trying to show them that he wouldn't be intimidated. And it seemed to work, even without Zangetsu strapped to his back several of the guards avoided his glare as he stalked past and he felt a strange sense of morbid satisfaction.

_I guess all those years of scowling during high school finally did some good_.

The gates were pulled open as they approached but the two guards that had picked Ichigo up from his lodgings remained outside.

Ichigo frowned and felt his stomach sink as he stared at his new guard.

"Soifon?" he half asked, half groaned.

She cut her eyes at him and somehow looked down on him, a feat he wasn't entirely sure how she had managed to do since he was several feet taller than her.

"If you wish to speak you will address me as Captain Soifon, understood, _Kurosaki_?"

His last name was spoken with distaste and he nodded curtly. Soifon had never been one of his favourite Captains, he always thought she took her job far too seriously and she only seemed determined to prove him correct.

"Follow!" she barked, turning around swiftly obviously intending for Ichigo to follow behind her. He paused for a moment,

"Aren't you going to remove these?" he snapped, twisting slightly to show the kido spell that still kept his arms bound behind his back.

"Criminals are to remain as incapacitated as possible when entering Central 46 Grounds. You're lucky you weren't rendered unconscious and brought in. Now, _follow_," she ordered again, a determined glint in her eyes that told Ichigo that if he didn't do as she said, it was pretty likely that she would make good on that whole being "rendered unconscious" thing.

He sighed reluctantly before nodding and striding over towards the Captain.

"Your trial will begin momentarily," she spoke briskly as they walked through the darkened corridors of the building, "you will be trialled by the judges of Central 46. You know your charges?"

"Yeah," he grunted, "don't I get a lawyer or anything?" he mumbled, it wasn't really directed at Soifon, but she replied anyway,

"It is my understanding that you have a…" she paused, "a representative."

"A representative," he repeated in confusion.

"That's what I said," she replied curtly, "through here."

They came to a set of large oak wood doors and without hesitating she pushed them open and continued her brisk march with Ichigo awkwardly following behind.

His throat felt dry as he gingerly stepped into the large hall she was leading him into.

The lighting in the hall was strange and felt rather murky to Ichigo. The edges of the circular room were more or less enshrouded in complete darkness, Ichigo had to squint pretty hard to make out the several done large chairs in the room. The middle of the room was also dark, but a dim bulb hung on the ceiling, giving a rather pathetic excuse of light.

"You will be seated here," Soifon pointed to a large oak wood desk that was situated in the middle of the room, directly below the bulb. There were two chairs behind the desk, and two armed guards flanked either side of it. Neither looked particularly threatening, with simple thin blades attached to their hips, but Ichigo knew he would have felt a lot safer with Zangetsu strapped to his back.

"Sit," Soifon barked, reminding Ichigo of the way one would speak to a disobedient dog and he sent the captain the fiercest scowl he could muster up.

She retaliated by simple quirking an eyebrow towards the desk.

Still scowling, and simultaneously trying to reign in his furious Hollow, Ichigo slowly made his way towards the desk and unceremoniously dropped himself onto it. As soon as he had settled himself onto the chair, the kido binding around his wrists disappeared and he was given the satisfaction of flexing his, now extremely sore, arms and wrists.

However, much to his dismay, the satisfaction was short lived and before he barely had time to sigh in relief, four metal bindings shot out from the chair he was sitting on. Two of them wrapped themselves around his ankles and the other two slammed themselves down upon his just freed wrists that he had rested on the arms of the chair.

"What the fuck is this?" he spat angrily, trying in vain to twist and turn out of his confines.

"All criminals and those awaiting sentencing must be thoroughly detained when in the presence of Central 46," Soifon said calmly, clearly expecting his outburst, "we are simply following protocol."

"You're lucky you haven't been gagged and bound," the guard to his right murmured, cutting his eyes angrily at Ichigo, "a criminal of your calibre doesn't deserve the luxuries you've been given."

"What luxuries?" Ichigo spat back with equal venom in his voice, "dragged here against my will, accused of a crime I didn't commit, an-"

"Save your statement for the judges Kurosaki. Until trialled by them, you are nothing but a criminal in our eyes. Your status as substitute Shinigami will do you no favours here," Soifon said coldly, "speak out of line to my men once more and they have been instructed to silence you. How they choose is up to them."

Ichigo could have sworn he saw both guards lips curl up at her words and he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Smart move Kurosaki," Soifon murmured with a smirk, "perhaps the smar-"

She was cut off by the sounds of muffled shouting from behind one of the closed doors which Ichigo assumed was an exit.

Both guards and Soifon all narrowed their eyes, and the guards placed both hands on the hilts of their blades, obviously preparing for an attack.

"…_tell you, I'm….to be in there!"_

Ichigo frowned as he listened to the barely comprehensible argument.

"_You're not allowed Sir!"_

The sound of something hard hitting against the wooden door startled them all and then silence fell.

"Arita," Soifon hissed, "investigate."

"Right, Captain!" the guard to the left who had yet to speak darted forward and within a second he was by the door.

Despite the feeling of loathing he felt for the guards, he had to admire his stealth. With the speed he moved and the small distance he was travelling, Ichigo had expected to here the tell tale flurry of wind he always heard when he shunpoed, but Arita made no noise whatsoever. Clearly the Stealth Squad were a force to be reckoned with, and Ichigo filed that information away for future reference.

**Planning your escape, eh King? **

Ichigo didn't reply, partly because he wasn't sure how true his answer would end up being.

Arita stalked closer and closer to the door, drawing his Zanpakuto as he went. He moved to place one hand on the doorknob, but whoever was on the other side beat him to it.

The door was pushed open dramatically, sending Arita jumping backwards a few feet to avoid being slammed into the wall.

"Halt!" Soifon yelled, darting forward, "you do not have permission to be in this room. I'd advise you to cooperate!"

But listening to Soifon seemed to be the last thing on Isshin Kurosaki's mind as he strode confidently into the room.

"Dad…" Ichigo muttered softly, not even bothering to hide the fact that his heart had soared once he entered the room. If there was one person he needed right then, it was him.

"Incarcerating my son, who I might add is _still _a minor, and then attempting to refuse me my right to see him?" Isshin said slowly, glaring at Soifon, "are you trying to get on my bad side Soifon?"

"_Captain _Soifon," she hissed angrily.

"_Captain _Soifon," Isshin amended with a curt nod, "arresting a minor and questioning him is against the law."

"You've been in the real world for too long Kurosaki," she replied with a snarl, "Soul Society doesn't abide by those laws, you know that."

"My _son_ is a human, therefore he abides by those laws," Isshin continued, "you had no right to treat him the way he has been treated."

"Your son has been accused of the most heinous crime Soul Society has ever seen. It even tops yours."

Isshin's jaw twitched at her words and Ichigo frowned.

He hadn't known his father had been involved in anything unlawful during his time in Soul Society, but then again, he had left for a reason that was still unknown to him.

"I assume from your unexpected appearance," Soifon continued, a smirk playing on her lips at Isshin's lack of response, "that you are the representative I was told would be coming."

"I guess so," Isshin replied, his voice cold and lacking it's normal humorous lilt. Ichigo couldn't help but gulp as his father stepped past Soifon and sat down on the seat next to his own. It wasn't often that Ichigo saw the serious side of his father and it always managed to shake him. Although he complained about his goofy antics more often than not, it always set him at ease. Seeing him serious just helped further drill in the fact that he was in trouble. Big trouble.

"No chains for me?" Isshin asked conversationally, upon noting the restraints around his sons wrists and ankles.

"They can be arranged if you'd like?" Soifon replied.

Isshin didn't reply, instead he simply turned away from Soifon to face his son.

"You let me do all the talking, understood?"

"What if they ask me specifically?"

"I'll answer. Listen son," Isshin said before pausing and sighing, "this…this is going to be rough. They're not going to go easy on you. They'll twist everything you say, and use everything against you. Your temper isn't going to help you out here."

Ichigo opened his mouth to retaliate - _I don't have a temper damn it _- but quickly decided that it wasn't really the time to be arguing.

"Good," Isshin murmured, "no-"

Whatever advice he had been about to offer his son, Ichigo would never hear due to the sound of the main doors being pushed open and a group of fifteen or so people marched through.

Most of them didn't even spare Ichigo as glance as they walked around to the seating that was meant for the Central 46, apart from an elderly man who was being aided by a podgy brunette.

The old man paused as he sized up Ichigo, and then his line of vision drifted to Isshin and a fierce scowl clouded over his wrinkled features.

When the brunette managed to persuade the man to carry on walking, Isshin sighed.

"What?" Ichigo asked in confusion, not liking the way his father's brows had furrowed even deeper.

"Remember how I said this is going to be rough?"

"Yeah…"

"It's going to be rougher than I anticipated".

_xoxoxo_

It wasn't awkward exactly, but Orihime had to admit that the situation wasn't one of the most comfortable ones she had found herself in.

She was sat on the large sofa in the living room of the Kurosaki household, Yuzu was bustling away in the kitchen and had flat out refused any help from Orihime. At first Orihime had felt slightly hurt by Yuzu's rebuttal, but Karin had swiftly informed her that that was just how Yuzu was and not to take it personally.

Speaking of Karin, the black haired twin was lounging lazily on one of the armchairs. Apart from assuring Orihime that she had no reason to be offended by Yuzu's insistence that she needed no help in the kitchen, Karin had said very little to her.

"Do…do you want to watch the television?" she asked nervously, clearing her throat as the building silence in the room finally got to her. For the last twenty minutes she'd been doing nothing but stare nervously around the living room.

"Not really," Karin replied listlessly, seemingly content with staring blankly at the wall in front of her.

"Want to play a game?"

"Nope."

"Do you have any homework to do?"

"Nope." (that one was a lie.)

Orihime huffed out a large breath of air before shrugging her shoulders and leaning exasperatedly into the sofa.

Although she wasn't overly close with the two Kurosaki twins, she had met both of them on several occasions before and Karin had always been the more forward and active of the two. Orihime could vividly remember the first time she had met Karin.

It was a Saturday afternoon and she had originally planned to hang out with Tatsuki, but Tatsuki had been pulled away at the last minute to help coach the under 14's football team the middle school ran because the coaches normal assistant had been taken ill.

Orihime hadn't minded Tatsuki leaving her, after all Tatsuki wanted to go into teaching sports after school so it was a good opportunity for her, but it had meant that she was alone and bored. It didn't take much for her to decide what to do.

Within moments she was bustling about her kitchen making sandwiches and snacks for Tatsuki and the kids. She figured that Tatsuki had probably forgotten to pack her own lunch and decided that making some for the kids as well wouldn't hurt anyone.

That was how she had met Karin.

When she entered the school playing field only Tatsuki and one short girl were running up and down kicking a ball between the two. It turned out that the coach had fallen ill as well and had cancelled the session, but neither Tatsuki or the girl had gotten the particular memo.

Tatsuki had been ecstatic to see Orihime, though noticeably less so when she realised Orihime had prepared food for them, and had eagerly introduced her to Karin Kurosaki.

That had been a time where her feelings for Ichigo were just a simple crush, but Orihime still cringed as she recalled how she had blushed madly at the mention of the word Kurosaki. Karin and Tatsuki had both laughed at her, and the trio spent the rest of the afternoon lazily kicking the ball around the field.

Orihime's snacks were conveniently forgotten.

Orihime frowned as she recalled that day, Karin had been a ball of energy then and had welcomed Orihime with open arms, even though she had just met her. But today, Orihime felt as if she were simply some sort of nuisance to the young girl.

"What's wrong?" she murmured aloud.

"Excuse me?"

Orihime jumped, her cheeks colouring with pink, "oh!" she gasped, waving her hands wildly, "nothing, I was just talking to myself, eheh," she chuckled nervously, "just feel free to ignore me. Most people do, because I tend to ramble and then you'll end up losing track of what I'm-"

"I'm scared."

She froze, having not expected to get an actually response from her, she was at a loss.

"I'm scared and I'm worried about Ichi-nii."

Understanding and sympathy flooded Orihime's heart and she stood up quickly and strode towards the side of the room where Karin sat.

"It's okay to be scared, or worried, you know?" she said quietly as she approached the armchair and sat precociously on the armrest, "nobody's going to hate you for it. In fact, I'd be quite worried for _you _if you didn't feel those emotions."

"Dad doesn't," she spat bitterly, turning to Orihime with a furious glare on her face and, if Orihime wasn't mistaken, the telltale sign of tears glistening in her eyes, "he…he doesn't even care one bit!"

"That's not true, Karin-chan, and you know it."

"He doesn't!" Karin shouted, jumping out of her seat and glaring at Orihime, "you should've seen him when he finally told me. It was like it wasn't even the first thing on his mind, like it was something he forgot about and I was just reminding him about it!"

"Karin-cha-"

She was visibly shaking now, her fists were clenched to her sides and her voice was begin to crack with unshed tears.

"It's his fault you know!" Karin continued, ignoring Orihime's gentle voice, "I don't know or understand what he did or how he did it and I don't want to know. But, I _do _know that it's his fault that we're all like this. It's his fault Ichi-nii is a damn Shinigami and in this situation, it's his fault I can see ghosts! It's all is fault and he won't take any responsibility for it! I hate-"

Her eyes widened in shock as the felt something warm wrap around her torso and pull her in close. Within seconds her face was being smothered in something soft and squishy, but she couldn't deny…it was very comforting and she soon found all her worries were washing away with each passing second.

"I know how you feel Karin-chan," Orihime murmured, still with her arms wrapped around her, "when I first heard about…" she swallowed thickly, "about Kurosaki-kun being arrested, I didn't know what to do. So many emotions were running through my mind, I was scared and worried for him - just like you. Kurosaki-kun is…he's very important to me and I can't imagine life without him," she said honestly, "and I felt angry, unbelievably angry," she admitted, "our friends from Soul Society betrayed and arrested him, how could I not feel angry?"

"It's not the same!" Karin insisted, pulling away, "I'm angry at those jerks as well, but it's still Dad's fault!"

"Don't you think he hasn't had the same thoughts, Karin-chan?" Orihime said gently, staring into Karin's tear stricken eyes, "he may be good at hiding it, but he's your father. He loves you all more than anything in the world. Acting goofy and nonchalant is just his way of coping. Don't you think that every time Kurosaki-kun get's injured or pulled into some battle for Soul Society that he doesn't feel guilty. Don't you wonder if every time he sees you talking to a ghost, he feel's a pang of regret? This isn't the life he wanted any of you to lead, that's why he tried to keep you all out of it for as long as possible. Unfortunately, his plans didn't work as well as he wanted, I guess," she smiled sadly, "but he's still trying. That's why he's gone to Soul Society, and you can bet everything that he's going to fight for Kurosaki-kun, and he's going to fight hard. Because he's your father and he loves you."

There was a short pause as Karin digested Orihime's speech.

"Geez," she finally mumbled, offering Orihime up a genuine smile, "I didn't know you were so wise."

Orihime giggled, "surprisingly, I get that a lot. So, do you want to see if we can force your sister to let us help out in the kitchen?"

Karin's grin widened, "sure," she uttered before turning around and entering the kitchen.

Orihime followed her with her own bright smile on her face. It felt good to cheer Karin up, and she could feel their previously weak bond growing into something more.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she subconsciously wondered what Ichigo would think about that.

_xoxoxo_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, I've recently acquired a full time job hence why this took a long time to update. I think I've got my body clock sorted out now, so I'll be trying to update more often!

Next chapters going to get the ball rolling, so…prepare yourselves ladies and gentlemen *_*


	4. Chapter 4

Her Turn

**Summary: **This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

4

"Bed time," she said abruptly upon noting that Yuzu was more or less asleep and about to slip off the sofa she had made her bed.

"Lemme just finish this race," Karin mumbled, aiming her game controller to the right as she tried to turn her car to the right.

Orihime smiled, Karin reminded her of Tatsuki so much.

"One more race," she agreed with a nod before turning to Yuzu, "bed time Yuzu-chan," she repeated softly.

The girl simply nodded, too tired to even attempt to argue.

"G'night Karin, Orihime-chan," she mumbled quietly before teetering tiredly out of the living room and up the staircase.

"Night Yuzu-chan!" Orihime replied.

Karin kind of grunted in reply, clearly to absorbed in her game to give her sister a proper goodnight message.

Orihime chuckled as she sunk back into the armchair and half heartedly watched Karin finish playing her game.

What had started off as rather rocky and awkward had turned into a very enjoyable night. Karin and herself eventually managed to persuade Yuzu to allow them to help in the kitchen and soon enough the three of them managed to cook a very delicious lasagne.

One that was suspiciously void of her favourite unconventional foods, but Orihime decided she could live with that.

Unsurprisingly, dinner conversation drifted towards Ichigo, something that Orihime hadn't been eagerly anticipating given the situation he was in. Most of the questions came from Yuzu who was still trying to come to terms with the spiritual world, but every now and then Karin would ask or input something into the conversation. A lot of her original anger and bitterness had left her voice, a result of her earlier discussion with Orihime, but Orihime could still tell that she was hurting, they both were.

"_There's no point moping about it," _Karin had said wisely once the conversation had fizzled out and all three of them were staring at their empty plates with a saddened look on their faces, "_Ichi-nii's been through worse. We just have to trust in him and Dad."_

Orihime and Yuzu had echoed their agreement with Karin's words by nodding silently.

After dinner they had washed their dishes then they migrated into the living room where Karin had gotten out their games console and began playing. She let Yuzu have a go every now and then, but Orihime was more than happy to just watch.

She wasn't sure how long the girls had played for, but once she saw Yuzu about to doze off she knew it was time for bed.

True to her word, after that last race, Karin obediently packed up the games console.

"Dyu think he'll be back tomorrow?" she asked as she stood up and stretched.

Orihime didn't need to ask who she was talking about.

"I hope so," she said honestly, "goodnight Karin-chan," she added upon noting that Karin had slowly started to mooch towards the staircase.

"Aren't you coming?" Karin asked with a genuine frown as she noticed that Orihime hadn't really moved from her seat on the sofa.

Orihime blushed slightly, "I'll sleep on the couch, I don't think there's much room in your room for another person," she added with a smile.

Karin rolled her eyes, "you're not gonna sleep on the couch. Dad _and _Ichi-nii would have a fit."

She laughed in response, "it's fine Karin. It's only for one night."

"Nope," Karin said stubbornly, raising her eyebrows at her minder for the night, "you can sleep in Ichi-nii's room. I'm sure he won't mind."

What happened next was rather comical.

Orihime blinked.

Karin stared, waiting for an answer.

Orihime blinked again.

Karin shifted onto her right foot, still waiting for an answer.

Orihime blinked once more, but this time opened her mouth.

Karin's eyebrows rose in confusion.

A noise that sounded like something a baby dinosaur might make fell from Orihime's lips.

"….Right," Karin deadpanned.

"I can't sleep in Kurosaki-kun's room!" Orihime managed to get out, hiding her hands in her face as she wailed, "I just couldn't!"

"He wouldn't have a problem with it. I'm pretty sure he would've offered it to you instead of the couch if he were here," Karin reason, fighting the urge to quirk up her lip at Orihime's minor hysterics.

Unbeknownst to Karin, all sorts of crazy fantasies were running rampant through Orihime's mind. Some perfectly innocent, some not.

Ichigo coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist only to find Orihime sitting innocently in his bed morphed into her and Ichigo fighting off an army of rabid Kon's which then morphed into her climbing into bed slowly with a suspiciously topless Ichigo following her every move which then turned into-

"Earth to Orihime," Karin snapped, waving her hands in front of Orihime's face.

It took a few moments but…

"I _can't!"_

"I will drag you up those stairs Orihime."

Orihime's eyes widened as she stared at Karin, wondering if she'd make good on her threat. Judging by the evil, yet still somehow friendly, glint in her eye she was sure she would.

"Fine," she resigned, "but you can't ever tell Kurosaki-kun, ok?"

Karin quirked an eyebrow.

"Please Karin-chan!"

"O…ok?"

It wasn't as if she'd never been in Ichigo's room before, no, she had definitely done that. Automatically the memory of her brief farewell before she was taken to Hueco Mundo flashed in the forefront of her mind, but she pushed it away quickly. She'd been in his room on other occasions besides that one.

Happier occasions.

So why did she feel so strange as she slowly clicked the door shut behind her and stepped tentatively deeper into the room. Her gaze drifted slowly around the room as she took in everything. Nothing had been changed much since her last visit, a few pairs of underwear were slung haphazardly across his desk chair and she averted her gaze quickly.

Ichigo didn't know she was in his room and she felt as if she were betraying him already by being in his room without his permission, (although Karin had done her best to assure her she _wasn't_ betraying anyone), she wanted to avoid looking at anything private and personal as much as possible.

She took a few more small steps further into the room and found herself standing by the edge of his bed. The dark blue blankets were tousled and the pillows thrown quickly on top of them, as if he had been in a hurry to make his bed and hadn't had the chance to do it properly.

Trying her best not ignore the furious beating of her heart, she slowly lowered herself downwards so she was perched precariously on the edge of his bed.

It took her a few moments to work up the courage, but after a while she managed to relax just enough to slide backwards on the bed so she was no longer hovering over the edge and was now sitting cross legged comfortably against his headboard. She reached out and turned on the small lamp that sat atop his bedside cabinet, illuminating the once dark room with a dim orange light.

"I feel so weird," she mumbled unhelpfully to herself, uncrossing her legs and instead deciding to bring her knees up against her chest.

Being alone in his room, something she had never done before, only reinforced the fact that he was not back home safely in Karakura. He in Soul Society being trialled for a crime she just _knew _he didn't commit. It didn't seem fair.

A familiar sensation of prickling in her eyes caught her off guard and she immediately shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts. If Karin and Yuzu could be brave for their elder brother, than so could she. After all, they both held much closer ties to him than she, if there was anyone who should be sitting in bed crying for the absent Ichigo, it was those two. Not her.

Sighing, she flipped onto her belly and reached over the side of her bed for the small overnight bag she had brought with her. Once her hand caught a hold of the bags shoulder straps, she hoisted it onto the bed and began rummaging through it, extracting everything she would need for the night.

She took out a simple pair of pyjamas which consisted of some shorts and an old shirt and also took out a toothbrush.

Once she had gotten everything she needed, she bundled her items up in her arms then hopped off the bed, deciding that getting changed in Ichigo's room was something she just wasn't comfortable doing. Besides, she needed to brush her teeth anyway.

After she had gotten into her pyjamas, washed her face and brushed her teeth, she made a quick detour into the girls room. For a brief second her heart lurched as she noticed that one bed was noticeably empty, but a quick glance towards Karin's bed settled her heart once more. It appeared that Yuzu had climbed into Karin's bed and the two twins were hugging each other in their sleep. She wasn't quite sure if it had been intentional, or if the two girls were just that in tune with each other that they knew what the other needed without speaking, either way it brought a smile to her face.

"Goodnight girls," she murmured before gently shutting the door closed and making her way back to Ichigo's room.

Almost immediately after entering his room, that suffocating feeling of utter weirdness surrounded her once more. This time she was not only in his room without his expressed permission, she was also in her pyjamas, which she could admit weren't the most modest.

She wore a light pink pair of short shorts that stopped just low enough to cover her rear, but that was about all it covered. On top she wore a old faded top that had once been baggy on her, but as she had grown the bagginess had all but disappeared and now was quite tight, showing off all her curves and such.

As she climbed into his bed, she absentmindedly wondered what Ichigo would think if he could see her now. Would he blush and stammer and look away? Would he like what he saw? Or maybe not.

The thought of standing in such revealing clothing in front of Ichigo sent a full body blush through her and she quickly dove under the blankets, as if hiding herself from her imaginary Ichigo.

Straight away the scent that was simply Ichigo reached her nose and she found herself burrowing deeper into his blankets. She could never put a finger on what he smelt like exactly. A few years ago, when they had first met and the first seeds of a crush had been sown, she liked to entertain that he smelled a lot like strawberries. That would've been cute considering his namesake, but now she knew she couldn't have been more wrong.

He smelled of several things mixed together, there was the distinct smell of something manly, the smell of fresh cinnamon, there was a dash of citrus in there and a hint of something spicy, causing her to wonder if he used cologne. He didn't seem the type to use cologne, but she was grateful he did, it only exacerbated his natural pleasant smell, unlike some of the boys in their year who seemed to shower in the stuff, making it overbearing for the nose.

A contented sigh fell from her lips as she curled up comfortably under the blankets. It was a silly thought, she knew, but being surrounded in his scent made her feel safe, as if he were there hugging her lovingly, taking the place of the blankets.

That thought brought a blush to her cheeks but she barely noticed.

"Good luck Ichigo…come back," she whispered into the darkness, knowing that he couldn't hear but hoping her felt her wish.

_xoxoxo_

"Ichigo Kurosaki, you have been accused to the most heinous crime Soul Society has faced since its foundation…you have been accused of the cold blooded murder of Minoru Kiyomizu, _The Spirit King_."

He could feel about 40 pairs of narrowed eyes zoned in on Ichigo, and it took all of his restraint not to glare viciously back at them. Instead he simply stared sullenly at the man speaking.

He was a relatively nondescript man, with short dark brown hair and thin pair of glasses resting gently on his nose. Ichigo never would have guessed he was a significant part of the Central 46 if he hadn't been sitting in the largest seat directly in the middle. From that, Ichigo gathered he was a particularly important person. Ichigo also noted that he, and the two people sitting on his left and right were the only three who did not have a plank of wood obscuring their faces.

The elderly man who had scowled angrily at Isshin was sitting to the right of the man currently speaking, and as far as Ichigo could tell his angry gaze was still fixated on Isshin.

"Kurosaki, do you understand the severity of the crime you have been accused of?"

Ichigo shot his dad a quick glance who in turn gave him an almost imperceptible nod, telling him it was alright for him to reply in that instance.

"I do."

The brown haired man nodded, still with narrowed eyes, "now, if you could give us your version of the events that transpired that night," he opened his hands outwards, as if inviting Ichigo to speak.

Ichigo opened his mouth but Isshin cut across.

"My son was at home in bed."

The eyes that had been previously focused on Ichigo whirled round to glare at Isshin who glared back.

"Isshin Kurosaki, I believe I directed that question at your son," the brown haired man drawled, clearly irked.

Isshin shrugged.

"_Ichigo_," the man continued, "do you have any witnesses who will be willing to verify your whereabouts on the night in question?"

Once again, Ichigo opened his mouth but it was Isshin's voice that answered.

"Yes. His father and two sisters will be more than happy to verify his whereabouts."

"The eyewitness statements of family members are generally not trusted in court," the man sneered, glaring angrily at Isshin for interrupting.

"And I suppose the eyewitness statements of a couple of drunks are much more trusted?" Isshin shot back, pushing himself up and slamming his fists down on the table, "don't think you're going to one up me Maharu, I've read the reports. Those eyewitnesses I have no doubt you're going to keep badgering on about were a bunch of drunks. Tell me how their statement is any more valid than mine or my daughters statements? Who might I add, were not drunk."

The brown haired man, who Ichigo now labelled Maharu recoiled backwards slightly, and he noted that few other members of the Central 46 did also, judging by the sounds of chairs scraping backwards slightly.

"Those reports were classified!" he spluttered, clearly thrown back by this little nugget of information, "how did you obtain them?"

Isshin shrugged.

Maharu's face contorted with anger and he pushed himself up slightly, but was stopped by an old hand.

"Trying to reason with a criminal is foolish Maharu-san," the elderly man who had glared at Isshin spoke slowly, "don't rise to his petty tricks. We have the truth on our side."

"I'm afraid you don't," Isshin said calmly, retaking his seat, "someone has framed my son and you're all too set on finding _someone _to blame for this mess that you can't see it."

"Why would anyone want to frame him?" a woman near the end spoke up, her face was mostly shrouded by her plank of wood but Ichigo decided she sounded rather young.

"It's my understanding that over the last few years he's picked up his fair share of enemies," Isshin replied, "I'd imagine there'd be several people who would want to frame him."

"Yes, yes," Maharu said with a bored air to his voice, "but it is _my _understanding that the majority, if not all, the people with a grudge against your son are dead or incarcerated in our own prisons."

"Your prisons aren't that hard to escape from," Isshin retorted.

Several members of the Central 46 hissed in indignation at that statement and the elderly man looked positively furious.

Ichigo shot his dad a curious glance, he was the first to admit that he knew next to nothing about his fathers time as a Shinigami and he wondered if he had committed some sort of crime.

"Enough!" Maharu bellowed, "Isshin Kurosaki, you are not helping your son by riling up the very people who are trialling him. If I were you, I'd allow him to answer our next few questions. If you do not adhere to this advice, I cannot guarantee that _you _won't be the one sitting in that chair next," he gestured to the chair Ichigo was sitting on.

A tense silence followed the threat, but after a few moments Maharu appeared to be satisfied that Isshin would abide by his rules and turned to Ichigo once more.

"Ichigo, you claim you were at home during the time of the Kings murder, correct?"

"…yeah."

The glares he could feel were getting intensified and he wondered if perhaps he should've been more polite with his answer.

"Then how do you explain traces of your reiatsu being found over the King's dead body?"

He paused, his scowl intensifying. How the hell was he supposed to explain something he didn't even understand himself?

"I'm not sure," he said truthfully and left it at that.

"That's it?" someone spoke up, "you have nothing else to say but _I'm not sure?" _

He could feel his temper bubbling in his stomach.

His Hollow was going on a minor rampage.

"That's all I have to say," he said through gritted teeth, "I didn't kill anyone. I hadn't even heard of the Spirit King till all this mess happened. I. Didn't. Do. It."

"You aren't helping yourself you know."

"Well what the fuck do you want me to say?"

From the corner of his eye he could see Isshin tensing, worrying that Ichigo's temper was getting out of control but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He was pissed off.

"I didn't kill anyone, that's the truth. Take it or leave it."

"Fine," Maharu said, "then who did?"

Ichigo scowled and clenched his fists, wishing he could do nothing more than ram Zangetsu through Maharu's face, "how am I supposed to know?"

"Well, if it wasn't you. Then this person clearly intended on framing you. Logic dictates, you must have some idea of who it was if they loathe you this much."

"Have you checked on Aizen lately. I'm pretty sure he hates me enough."

"Former Captain Sosuke Aizen is being held in one of Soul Society's securest prisons. You're insulting us by insinuating he could possibly have been behind this."

"The Spirit King was murdered, you didn't ever think that could happen did you?" Isshin muttered, just quietly enough for Maharu and perhaps a few more who were properly listen to hear, but still decide to ignore.

"Why are we even entertaining this charade," the elderly man growled, "he is clearly guilty. Like father like son, they're all criminals. I'd say we watch out for those two daughters of his as well. Scum like the-"

"You will not," Isshin ground out loudly, "you will not insult my family Kaeda. Any hatred you have for me, you will aim only at me. My son doesn't deserve to suffer because of your bigoted opinions regarding myself."

"Your son is-"

"My son is one of the reason's you're all alive right now," Isshin bellowed, causing several members of the Central 46 to recoil backwards, "or have you all forgotten about everything he did for Soul Society just a few years ago? He didn't have to help, he could've turned his back on you and then where would you be? If I recall correctly, most of the Gotei 13 were being slaughtered before Ichigo got there."

"You exaggerate your son's abilities," someone sneered.

"You're right, I am," Isshin agreed with a nod, earning himself a glare from his son, "but the fact remains. Ichigo was an integral part in the take down of Aizen and his army. You'll do well to remember that."

"Your son is a known law breaker here in Soul Society," Maharu continued, as if he hadn't heard what Isshin had said, "since the activation of his Shinigami powers we estimate he has broken over one hundred of our laws. He clearly has no regard for the law and authority. He acts without thinking or conscience, doing only what he see's fit."

"There's a huge difference between flouting a few outdated laws to rescue a friend, who was also wrongly accused might I add, and killing the Spirit King," Isshin retorted, referring to Ichigo and his friend's rescuing of Rukia.

"A crime is a crime, no matter the severity. To me, there is no difference."

"And there's the matter of that Hollow living inside him," someone mumbled, causing the Central 46 to rumble in agreement.

Ichigo winced, he had been hoping they'd somehow forget about the fiend who resided inside him. It certainly didn't gain him any popularity points. Instead, they were now staring at him with a mixture of fear and hatred, as if they expected the Hollow to pop out and slaughter them right there.

"Ah yes, the Hollow," Maharu said with a smirk, as if this were his trump card, "from reports of you in battle I am led to understand that when you are fighting a losing battle or are overcome with emotion the Hollow within you lends you a hand?"

Ichigo scowled, but said nothing.

"When the Hollow takes over, do you remember everything?"

"Yes."

"All the time."

"…yes," he had hesitated and that was all Maharu needed.

"Ah, ah, ah Ichigo. You are in court and are therefore required to answer truthfully. Do you remember everything that happens when your Hollow takes over, _all the time_?"

Ichigo's scowl intensified. He knew exactly what incident Maharu was referring to.

"That was one time."

"I'll take that as a no then," Maharu finished with a smirk, "ladies and gentlemen, through Ichigo Kurosaki's own admission-"

"I didn't admit to anything!"

"-own admission," Maharu continued, ignoring Ichigo completely, "when taken over by his Hollow he does not always have complete control over it-"

"I didn't say that."

"-over it nor can he always remember his actions after being taken over. Ichigo, is it not completely plausible that your Hollow took over, killed the King and you simply have no recollection of it?"

"No that's not completely plausible at all. That's bullshit."

"I'd beg to differ."

"It doesn't just work like that," Ichigo exploded, "my Hollow doesn't just take over, I can control it."

**Really now? **

_Shut up._

"I seem to remember reading a report of your time in Heuco Mundo where your Hollow took over, you nearly killed one of your comrades then claimed no recollection of the events. Is that a lie?"

The hatred Ichigo felt for Maharu was bordering on the hatred Ichigo had once felt for Ulquiorra.

"Is it a lie Ichigo?"

"That was a unique situation. I…I had something to protect," he finished lamely.

"If you ask me, he should be locked up for even having that beast inside him. He's an abomination." Kaeda muttered, just loudly enough for his opinion to be heard.

"Thankfully nobody asked you," Isshin shot back with fake cheeriness.

"Kaeda-san is right though," Maharu said, "this information about your Hollow is very…interesting Ichigo. I'm afraid I am just not convinced that your Hollow didn't go on a rampage that night and murder the Spirit King."

"This is unbelievable," Isshin muttered, "you're clutching at straws here Maharu. Are you so desperate to blame this crime on someone that you'd willingly send an innocent teenage boy to prison? Are you that detestable?" he said louder.

"Isshin Kurosaki," Maharu boomed, "the Central 46 has been extremely lenient towards you and your sons despicable behaviour today. Had this crime been anything less, your actions within the first five minutes would have rendered you both with a 500 year sentence. As it stand, due to the severity of the crime we have been required to hear you out but _enough is enough_. The evidence against your son is catastrophic and neither he nor you can counter any of it."

"Those eyewitnesses-"

"were all extremely notable members of the Royal Guard. Drunk or not, they are not incompetent and know what they saw," Maharu spat, "I have entertained your behaviour for long enough. You both have been unable to prove that Ichigo did not commit the crime and thus…"

He turned his attention to Ichigo and Ichigo felt his blood run cold.

This could not be happening to him.

This had to be some sick joke.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, for your crimes against Soul Society…for the murder of the Spirit King-"

"I swear to God Maharu I will-"

"Isshin Kurosaki, if you speak out of line once more, I will not be responsible for the behaviour of my guards."

Isshin fell silent upon noting that several of the guards lining the chamber had all placed their hands on the hilt of their weapons.

"Thank you. Ichigo Kurosaki, for you crimes against Soul Society…for the murder of the Spirit King," Maharu took a deep breath before continuing, "you have been sentenced to execution."

Ichigo felt something switch off in his brain.

There was simply no way he had heard what he thought he heard.

He went limp in his chair and drowned out the shouting voice of his father, the clinking of swords and whatever else was happening around him.

Execution?

He was going to be executed?

"…until a date for the execution is set, you will be held in the Nest of Maggots Detention Facility…"

Ichigo was still only half listening, this had to be some sort of sick joke.

He could hear his Dad yelling something at him but it just wouldn't register.

He was going to die…what did it matter…

The chains around his wrists and ankles disappeared, but he barely noticed. Even if he had noticed properly, there was barely any time for him to respond to the action because two guards quickly flanked him and hoisted him up. In seconds his arms were behind his back and a new pairs of chains had been conjured up and stuck on his wrists.

"Let's go Kurosaki," one of them snarled.

He didn't even resist as they led him away.

"Ichigo! _Ichigo! __**Ichigo…Son!"**_

The guards stopped and turned Ichigo around so he could face his father.

"Dad…" he croaked.

Isshin's heart just about broke cleanly in two as he stared at his eldest child. He looked terrified and Isshin didn't blame him, he was terrified as well.

"Stay calm, I _will _get you out of this mess," he took three quick strides forward, ignoring the guards telling him to keep away, and wrapped one large hand around Ichigo's neck, pulling their foreheads together, "I will come back for you, understood?"

"…ye…yeah."

And then the guards pulled them apart and there was someone yelling for Isshin to be removed from the premises, (probably Kaeda) and then…Ichigo was gone.

_xoxoxo _

The Kurosaki twins and Orihime would have been lying horribly to themselves if they didn't admit that they all had sort of hoped that both Isshin and Ichigo would be home by the time they awoke the next morning.

Breakfast was a rather silent affair, none of them particularly wanted to speak about the obvious lack of Isshin and Ichigo so instead they opted to eat their toast and drink their hot chocolate in silence.

The sound of someone pushing a key through the lock of the front door broke their stony silence and all three of them collectively held their breaths as the door was pushed open and someone walked through.

"Dad?"

"Dad?"

"_Dad_!"

Orihime had to giggle as she watched both Karin and Yuzu jump up from the table and run to their father like they hadn't seen him in years. They hugged for a few moments before Yuzu broke away and looked hopefully behind her father,

"…Dad…where's Ichii-nii?"

Orihime bit her lip.

Karin froze.

Poor Yuzu looked like she was close to tears.

Isshin however smiled brightly and did what Orihime had come to know as a "Cool Guy Pose", "don't you two believe in your daddy? Ichigo's just got to fill out some paperwork in Soul Society, it'll probably take a few days, so daddy came back to look after his two angels!"

Karin narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "really?"

"Really, you don't trust me?"

"Not in the slightest."

Isshin laughed loudly and ruffled her hair, "he'll be back in a few days. Paper work in Soul Society is nasty business, you know."

Orihime nodded in understanding, she'd lost track of how many times she heard various Shinigami complaining about the unbelievable amounts of paperwork they had to complete.

It took a bit more coaxing and a few - fake - tears from Isshin for the girls to finally accept the fact that it would be a few more days before their brother would return.

"_Now!" _Isshin boomed, "you two are late for school, chop chop!"

A quick glance over to the clock that hung over the door confirmed what Isshin had said and within seconds both girls were rushing around looking for their school bags and shoes.

Orihime laughed as she pushed herself away from the table and migrated to where Isshin stood. She didn't have to leave for school for another half hour.

"See you tonight Dad," Yuzu sung happily as she skipped past her father, planting a quick kiss on his cheek, "and see you later Orihime-chan, it was nice hanging out with you!" she added, giving Orihime a quick one armed hugged before she darted out of the door, yelling for Karin to hurry up.

"Later Goat Chin," Karin waved as she slunk out of the door, noticeably less excitable than Yuzu, "later Orihime-chan, thanks…for everything."

She didn't give Orihime a hug like Yuzu, but Orihime felt the emotion and smiled brightly.

"Have a nice day at school girls."

Isshin waited until Karin had walked down the pathway to close the door behind his daughters.

"They really like you, huh?" he asked quietly.

"I…guess so," Orihime admitted with a blush, "I like them as well."

An awkward silence ensued between the two, and Orihime wondered if perhaps she had overstayed her welcome and he had intended for her to leave with the twins.

"So…um, I'm really glad Kurosaki-kun will be back soon," Orihime rambled, "I was so worried for him last night, we all were-"

"Orihime-chan."

She frowned, his voice had lost the happy lilt it had when he was talking to his daughters. Now…now he looked and sounded like a broken man. As she stared at him properly she noted his eyes were red, bloodshot red, and one had a purple bruise forming around it, as if he had been punched recently.

"Y-yes, Isshin-san?"

"He didn't…I…"

Orihime's heart stopped.

"Please don't say what I think you're about to say," she whispered.

"I lied to the girls, I had to. I couldn't tell them, I…" he was staring at her with pleading eyes, as if begging for her forgiveness.

She took a step backwards towards the door, "please Isshin-san…please don't."

"We lost the trial," he said it quickly, like he was ripping off a band-aid and trying to make it hurt less, "he…he's been sentenced to execution."

She shook her head.

"No! They can't, he…he didn't do anything they can't kill him!"

She felt sick, she wanted to collapse and bury her head and never think about anything ever again. She wanted Ichigo to be standing next to her telling her to fix her face because she was crying so much. She wanted everything to go back to normal.

"I'm so sorry Orihime," Isshin could only mumble as he watched the young woman back herself into a corner, hugging herself to try and stop her shakes, "I will fix it. I will bring him back."

_xoxoxo_

After she had left Isshin's home, she hadn't known what to do. Isshin had offered to take her home but she had flinched away from him and said that she needed to be alone. A flicker of hurt had passed through Isshin's face which she felt guilty for.

She knew that Isshin had tried his absolute best. She knew that Isshin was hurting a whole lot more than she was but she couldn't bring herself to stay in his presence for much longer. So she had excused herself and ran out.

She didn't want to go home. She knew she wouldn't be able to stand the loneliness.

She didn't want to go to school, knowing she'd probably break down once she saw all their friends.

So she walked aimlessly along the riverbank, not bothering to hide her tears as she walked.

She had never felt so heartbroken in her life.

Ichigo Kurosaki was never coming back.

She was never going to see him again.

She was never going to see that silly scowl he always wore.

Or watch him snap good naturedly at Keigo.

She'd never even gotten to say goodbye properly.

"He broke his promise. He broke his promise," she mumbled repetitively as she walked, "you said you'd come back. You promised."

It felt as if there was a black hole in her heart, sucking away at every ounce of love and care and happiness she'd ever had. It was eating her up and all she wanted to do was rip her heart out because surely that would hurt less than what she was going through now?

She wondered if this was how Ichigo had felt when Rukia had been taken.

She wondered if this was how Ichigo had felt when _she _had been taken.

Did he feel all these feelings of hopelessness and despair that she was feeling right now? Did he want to crawl into a hole a cry forever? Did he feel so ridiculously empty?

_Whatever he felt, he didn't give up_, a voice in the back of her mind said quietly and she found herself nodding.

The memory of the day Rukia had gone missing and she had asked Ichigo about it came to the forefront of her mind.

Ichigo had already made up his mind about going to save her. He hadn't hesitated, he had just known what to do.

Had he so easily decided to save her as well?

Guilt began to wash over her.

Saving his friends was like a knee jerk reaction for Ichigo. He didn't wallow in self pity, he didn't cry for hours on end.

He helped.

That was what she had always loved about Ichigo, his willingness to help people close to him.

If it had been Chad or Uryu who had been arrested and sentenced to execution, would Ichigo have walked around crying for a few hours?

She knew her answer and in seconds her feet were pounding against the concrete floor as she made her decision.

Ichigo had done so much for her. He'd leapt in Heuco Mundo without a second thought for her. He'd defied Soul Society for Rukia. Was it too much to ask that his friends did the same for him?

_Sorry Ichigo_, she huffed as she ran. For a few brief hours she had abandoned him. _Never again_.

She reached Urahara's shop in record time.

"Ah Inou-" Tessai began as Orihime walked briskly through the courtyard, but she didn't have time for formalities. She brushed past him quickly and sought out Urahara who was sitting calmly in the back room sipping some tea out of a pink mug.

His eyebrows rose in surprise as she knelt down beside him and bowed her head respectfully,

"Please Urahara-san, _send me to Soul Society!" _she begged.

_xoxoxo_

"Sir?"

The man looked up from his paperwork and frowned at the intrusion, he had specifically asked not to be bothered.

"What is it?"

The low level Shinigami flinched at his harsh tone, "t-the trial has finished."

_Ah_.

The man allowed a small smile to grace his features, "and?"

"The Kurosaki boy has been sentenced to execution."

The man waved his servant off before leaning back in his chair, his smile widening with every passing second.

Everything was going exactly according to plan.

Humans really were so easy to manipulate.

_xoxoxo_

* * *

><p><em>Please review! <em>


	5. Chapter 5

Her Turn

**Summary: **This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

5

"A-ah ah! Sado-kun, Uryu-kun!" Orihime yelped, staring up to see both her friends already comfortably seated in Urahara's meeting room.

They both nodded to her, and she noted a tenseness in both of their faces.

"You've heard?" she asked quietly.

"Unfortunately," Uryu said tightly.

It was funny, Orihime realised somewhat absentmindedly. Both Uryu and Ichigo were almost always at each others throats so much that an outsider may have believed that they truly hated one another. But the angst in Uryu's eyes was unmistakable. In his own, strange way, he cared for Ichigo.

"Yeah," Chad said simply, his deep voice sounding dull and sullen.

Unlike Uryu's relationship with Ichigo, it was clear that there was an immense amount of love and respect between both Ichigo and Chad. They treated each other like brothers, she could only imagine how much this was hurting him.

Now she truly considered it, she felt rather foolish for not assuming that both men wouldn't come to the same conclusion as she and try to contact Urahara.

"So, lets get to business shall we?" Urahara said suddenly, his voice laced with a serious tone that she rarely heard.

Orihime nodded, and faced Urahara seriously, "send us to Soul Society. Please!"

Her fists were clenched in determination as she stared at Urahara, awaiting his answer.

"You truly believe you're strong enough to rescue him?"

Orihime leaned back onto her haunches, wincing at the harshness of Urahara's tone.

"You truly believe you have what it takes to defeat Soul Society and bring Ichigo home?"

She bit her bottom lip.

"You truly believe that this little mission of yours won't result in your death?"

She inhaled sharply, casting her eyes downwards.

"_Urahara-san!" _Uryu snapped, noting the way the bold Orihime who had appeared just a few seconds ago seemed to have recoiled completely back into her shell.

Urahara sighed, "I apologise for my harsh words," he said truthfully, "but they were something you needed to hear. Something you _all _needed to hear. Storming into Soul Society to rescue Ichigo will undoubtedly lead to your deaths."

"And you think sitting in Karakura waiting for news isn't going to kill us?" Orihime asked dully, "you think that hearing one day that they've done it. That they've killed him. T-that he's gone…you think that isn't going to kill me?"

"Orihime…"

"I understand what you're trying to say Urahara-san, I do. But…" she smiled softly, not bothering to wipe the few tears that had inevitably begun to fall, "I can't just sit and wait. Kurosaki-kun has always come to our rescue. He saved Kuchiki-chan, he…he even came for me, despite what the Captain Commander said…he still came for me. I always thought I'd never be able to repay him for that, and now I can. If you won't help Urahara-san…I will find my own way."

"Seconded."

"Agreed."

Uryu and Chad both nodded, fixing Urahara with determined glares.

"I'm forced to agree with these youngsters, Kisuke," a familiar voice joined into the mix.

"Ah, Isshin," Urahara nodded to his old friend, "I was wondering when I'd see you."

"I had a few things to sort out at home," Isshin replied curtly, stepping further into the room.

"Kurosaki-san…" Orihime whispered quietly, averting her gaze as he chose the wall nearest hers to lean against nonchalantly. She didn't think she'd ever seen him looking so serious before. His face was completely devoid of any of the silly humour she had come to associate with him.

He looked like he was ready to fight.

"My, my, my," Urahara said feigning fatigue, "you people never cease to cause me stress. I hope you know that."

"Does this mean you'll send us?" Uryu asked, "why the sudden change of heart?"

"From Orihime-chan's little speech and your reactions, I can tell you're not going to take no for an answer. Also, if Isshin is accompanying you…well that's a whole different ballpark."

Orihime nodded.

She hadn't been able to see Isshin battle before, but if there was any truth behind the rumours she'd heard, then he was most certainly a force to be reckoned with.

"You'll still need to train though. All of you."

"We aren't leaving straight away?" Orihime asked, eyes wide, "but…but…we have to leave now we-"

"He's right," Chad spoke up, "we're all pretty rusty right now-"

"Hmph, speak for yourselves," Uryu sniffed, "I have been keeping myself well trained."

Despite the direness of their current situation, Orihime had to bite back the urge to giggle at Uryu's snide comment.

"Right." Chad continued, "well, we still need to train."

"But Kurosaki-kun! We don't have the time to be sitting around in Karakura, even if we are training."

Isshin shook his head, addressing Orihime for the first time since he had relayed the bad news to her, "we have time. There are several protocols for executing someone in Soul Society. It is never an immediate thing. You remember with Rukia, they didn't plan to execute her for quite a while after they captured her."

Orihime nibbled her lip, but nodded. That was true. They had just under a month to train and prepare themselves to rescue Rukia.

"Worst case scenario, we have only a week to train before we should attempt the rescue. I'm hedging bets towards possibly a month," Isshin continued, "Kisuke, you can keep an eye on things and update us, right?"

Urahara nodded, "of course. The moment a date is given, I will know."

Isshin pushed himself off the wall and turned to face the three teenagers before him, "I want you all to be 100% sure this is the path you want to take?"

"We've defied Soul Society before, we can do it again," Uryu said, sounding far too much like he actually enjoyed defying Soul Society.

"This isn't just Soul Society we're going up against, "the Royal Family. The Royal Realm, they're on a completely different level to those in Soul Society. Making an enemy out of them is something even myself and Kisuke have avoided. So I'm going to ask you all again, are you sure?"

Silence engulfed the small room as the three teens truly considered what Isshin was telling them.

Going against Soul Society, but going against those in the Royal Realm was completely different. From what they had been told about those who resided in that realm, only the most powerful could survive. Would they really be able to take them on? And what about after they rescued Ichigo - provided they didn't lose their lives in the process? Could they really handle being wanted by the Royal Realm for the rest of their lives?

The answer was simple.

"Kurosaki-san," Orihime said quietly, but loud enough for everyone else in the room to hear, "you insult me."

Isshin blinked, taken aback by her answer. She didn't phrase her response in a rude manner, but there was a fiery blaze in her eyes that told him she truly was insulted by his questions.

"For Ichigo, I will do anything."

_xoxoxo_

Thin eyebrows furrowed in frustration as Miki Kiyomizu tried in vain to hear the conversation that was occurring behind the thick wooden door she was currently leaning against.

Somewhere deep down she recognised that she should probably feel guilty for eavesdropping on her mother's conversation, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. She had every right to know what was going on, but her mother seemed determined to keep them in the dark.

It was so frustrating.

She gasped and jumped back as she heard a chair scrape backwards and heavy footsteps begin to thud towards the door. As quickly and as quietly as she could she backed away from the door and slid inside an empty room just across the corridor from her mother's study. Leaving the door open slightly, she peaked out from behind it, holding her breath and praying she wouldn't be caught eavesdropping. Again.

Two familiar figures exited the study.

_Masao_, she mumbled to herself, recognising the tall man. He had been a close confidant of her father's and ever since his death had been spending a lot more time at their palace.

_Mama_. Rin Kiyomizu exited the room behind Masao, taking care to firmly close and lock the study room door behind her.

"How long?" Rin murmured suddenly, and Miki edged closer to the door, hungry to hear any piece of information her mother would accidentally let slip out.

Masao grimaced, "I would guess you have till the boy's execution."

"And when will that be?"

"They have yet to announce a date yet. I would say you have at least a month though."

Rin nodded, "thank you Masao. I know you shouldn't be telling me this."

"Nonsense!" Masao reached over and placed a placating hand on Rin's shoulder, "even if you weren't the Queen, I would still be relaying all this information to you. Minoru was always extremely kind to me. I owe him indefinitely. I will ensure you and your children are looked after correctly."

"Thank you," she said earnestly, a sad smile playing at her lips.

Miki whimpered sadly from her hiding place as she watched her mother and Masao embrace briefly before continuing down the corridor and out of sight. Since her father's death, her mother had put on a brave face and Miki had begun to wonder if it had even affected her. Seeing the sadness in her face as she spoke to Masao, Miki realised just how much her mother was hurting and it hurt _her _to know that she didn't think she could talk to her children about it.

Once she was certain her mother and Masao wouldn't be returning, she quickly slid out of her impromptu hiding place and darted down the corridor, the opposite way they had gone. Her brows were furrowed as she tried to digest and make sense of the words she had heard from the two adults.

Something was going to happen in a month.

After the man who had killed her father was executed.

Something that affected her small family.

But what?

She had a few ideas but knew the only person who would be able to confirm her theories would be her mother, and she knew it was extremely unlikely that she would divulge any information to her.

"OI!"

A high pitched screech fell from her lips at the sudden and unexpected greeting and she skidded to a halt.

"What are you doing?" a confused voice asked questioningly.

Miki clutched at her heart as she glared at her little brother.

"I _told _you to stop jumping out at me like that Haru!"

Haruki Kiyomizu smiled cheekily at his older sister, quite pleased that he had successfully been able to scare her, "what've you been doing?" he asked with interest.

Miki straightened up, "nothing! Now, I have somewhere to be," and with that she turned on her heel, intent on stalking away quickly from him.

"You were eavesdropping on Mama weren't you?"

She froze, a faint blush staining her cheeks are she turned back around to face her brother, "n-no, of course not," she stuttered.

She had never been a fairly convincing liar.

"You're a bad liar," Haru sniggered.

"Go to bed Haru," she muttered, deciding not to play his taunting games.

"I want to know what they were talking about! I don't see why nobody will tell me anything. I'm not a baby."

"Oh…Haru…" she said softly, stepping closer to her brother. She recognised the frustration in his face and realised that she wasn't the only one feeling it.

They were both being kept out of the loop.

"He's my dad too you know!" Haru growled angrily, clenching his fists, "I deserve to know what's going on."

Miki nodded, "you're right, but Mama isn't going to tell us."

"_Why?"_

She considered the question for a few moments, before settling on the answer she believed was most true, "I think…I think she's trying to protect us. This is tough on her too, she doesn't want it to be too tough on us as well."

"That's stupid," Haru said dismissively, "we're a family. Family are supposed to deal with things together!"

Miki smiled, "not everybody's as smart as you Haru."

Haru grinned, "so, what did you hear?"

"Not here," she said seriously.

Understanding immediately, Haru nodded and motioned for his sister to follow him. The pair moved swiftly through the palace, using shortcuts that were only known to the two after having spent the majority of their lives exploring the large building.

"Did you change rooms?" Miki asked in awe as she stepped into the final room Haru led her in. It held none of the warmth and typical "Haru Style" that his previous room did, but judging by the blanket and few toys that lay scattered on the floor, he had indeed made a quick swap.

"I didn't want to be there anymore," he said simply, a strange look in his eyes.

Miki nodded in understanding.

Their father had been murdered outside his bedroom. She wouldn't have wanted to stay there either.

The two siblings shuffled closer into the room and wordlessly slipped beneath the blankets that were laid out on the floor. Miki draped her arm around Haru's shoulders, pulling him closer towards her before taking a deep breath and launching into everything she had heard.

_xoxoxo_

It _stunk_.

His first few days in the Nest of Maggots Detention Facility had just been pretty much him trying to avoid throwing up his stomach contents.

Now, he was embarrassed to admit, he was getting used to the stench. Every breath didn't want to make him hurl anymore, and he could now stomach eating food without having to fight the urge to throw it back up almost straight away.

It was also extremely dark.

From what he gathered when he was brought in, there were several floors to the Nest of Maggots and he was being kept on one of the lowest ones. There were approximately fifty cells on each floor - the majority empty and each floor stretched for several hundred metres.

Despite the extreme length of each floor, only one light was given to illuminate the floor. A very dull light that was placed at the beginning of the floor.

Typically, the cell he had been given was placed nearer the other end of the floor, meaning the light he received was very minimal.

He didn't understand why exactly he'd been placed so far away from the light source, considering the other 49 cells on his floor were empty.

But then again, he still didn't quite understand how he was to be executed for a crime he didn't commit.

Sighing, he flopped down onto the small and ratty mattress that had been chucked into his cell, as opposed to a bed.

Since becoming a Shinigami, he had gotten himself into more dangerous and deadly situations than he could count, but this? This definitely took the top spot.

He couldn't even force himself to be angry anymore. All he felt was a sort of numb confusion.

How was this happening to him?

Was it really happening?

Part of him was certain it was all some crazy nightmare that he had yet to wake up from.

Every day, that little part of him got smaller and smaller.

He hated to admit it, but without Zangetsu within reach, he felt hopeless.

They had cut off his reiatsu with a strange red band he was forced to wear around his neck, so even using any of the limited Kido he knew to break free was out of the question.

And he _hated_ feeling like that.

_**Man up**_.

He dutifully ignored his Hollow's scathing voice. He hadn't taken kindly to Ichigo's feelings of helplessness and had decided to make it his duty to chant (what he possibly thought were helpful) rude comments to Ichigo periodically throughout the day.

He wondered if this feeling of helplessness had engulfed Rukia when she had been imprisoned for her alleged crimes. He wondered if she had spent every waking moment fearing the day someone would talk into her cell and tell her this was it.

She was going to die today.

Did it make him weak for fearing it? Sometimes, he thought that people forgot just how old he truly was. Eighteen years old and he had already been through more than the average Shinigami. Everyone seemed to take it for granted that he was willing to put his life on the line for his friends and loved ones, that didn't mean he didn't feel fear though.

Squaring up against Aizen and seeing all his fallen comrades scattered injured on the floor had been quite possibly the most terrifying moment of his life up until now, he just hid it extremely well.

Now, with no-one around watching him, he didn't need to hide it.

He was fucking terrified.

The fact that he had literally no way to defend himself against the bastards who were responsible for this was only helping to amplify the fear he felt.

Was this how Orihime felt?

His heart lurched suddenly as his soft auburn haired friends face popped into his mind. He had been doing his best to try not to think about his friends back home, it caused him too much pain but he couldn't quite get her out of his mind.

Did she feel the fear he was feeling when she went to Heuco Mundo.

Almost immediately he shook his head.

Orihime was braver than he could ever be - that he was certain of.

Unlike he, she had gone of her own free will. She had gone to save her friends, she was certain she was going to die, she had prepared herself for it even.

Groaning, he rolled onto his stomach, smothering his face in his mattress.

He wished he could have that bravery.

_xoxoxo_

She stared at the older man determinedly, doing her best to ignore the wary look in his eyes.

"Orihime-chan, are you sure?"

She nodded, spreading her legs and sticking her arms out in front of her.

"We'll take it easy at first, ok?"

"Got it!"

Still feeling rather wary about the arrangement, Isshin nodded before taking a step back and unsheathing his Zanpakuto.

"I'm coming at you!"

"I'm ready!"

"_Getsuga Tenshou!"_

"_Santen Kesshun…I reject!"_

A bright red beam of light shot across Urahara's training ground and met an even brighter orange wall. As the red beam collided with the orange wall, and mini explosion occurred around them, and Isshin had to shield his eyes from the dust and debris that came flying at him.

From across the room, he heard a small scream.

"Orihime-chan?" he called, sprinting across the vast space as soon as the area around them settled.

"Owieee," Orihime muttered dejectedly, "that was very forceful Kurosaki-san!"

The force of Isshin's attack had sent her reeling backwards and had made her trip over and fall onto her bottom.

Isshin smiled as he watched the young woman stand back up.

"Your shield kept though," he noted, staring admirably at the unwavering orange wall that had protected her from his attack, "not many things can stand up against my Getsuga Tenshou, I'm impressed."

"It pushed me back though," Orihime said with a small pout, taking her shield down as she spoke, "and you weren't even going at full power, were you?"

Isshin shook his head.

Orihime clenched her fists and bit her bottom lip before yelling, "again, please!"

Looking rather taken aback, Isshin scratched the back of his head, "you don't want to take a break?"

"No thank you Kurosaki-san!" she smiled brightly, "I'm still good to go!"

"Alright, but don't strain yourself understood? If you need a break tell me and we'll leave it for today."

She nodded firmly, already getting back into her defensive position. Recognising that she wasn't about to give up so easily, Isshin sighed before dashing back to his original position.

When he had told the teens that they needed to train before even attempting to enter Soul Society, he had assumed that Orihime would partner off with either Chad or Uryu, so he was understandably surprised when the bubbly woman approached him.

At first he had denied her but she had been relentless.

"_No offence to Uryu-kun or Sado-kun but…but, well you're the strongest here Kurosaki-san. And me…well I'm probably the weakest."_

"_Orih-"_

"_I am. I can't attack as well as the others, I've come to terms with that. But my defence? My defence is something they don't have. I want to perfect it. For them. For you! For all my loved ones. So please, Kurosaki-san, please train with me!"_

And well, he just couldn't say no to that.

"Here I come!"

"I'm ready!"

"_Getsuga Tenshou!"_

"_Santen Kesshun…I reject!"_

_xoxoxo_

She hissed as she lowered herself slowly into her bathtub, wincing as the warm water connected with the many bruises she had acquired that afternoon.

Isshin had proved to be quite the strenuous partner to train with. Whilst she was gasping for air or water, it looked like he had barely broken a sweat.

She could definitely understand why he had been a Captain once, long ago. Even with the simple attacks he was throwing at her, she could sense a dormant power, bubbling underneath his skin, just begging to be let loose.

It quite a terrifying thought if she was honest with herself. If what he was flinging at her was only a tiny fraction of his power, she shuddered to think what he was capable of if he were fighting for real. She knew Isshin would never use his full power on her and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

If they were to be going up against Captain's in Soul Society, then surely pitting her against a Captain class Shinigami whilst they were training would be ideal…but, she had to admit, going against Isshin at full strength was a terrifying prospect.

"Did I make any progress?" she asked her aloud, letting her head lean back against the rim of her bathtub.

Isshin was certainly very praising of her abilities, but she wasn't sure if he was just praising her to try and make her feel better, or if he truly thought she was improving. It was true, she was no longer being pushed back every time he hit her with an attack, but it was taking a lot of energy out of her just to keep the shield up to a level that wouldn't smash upon impact.

It was all so tiring.

Picking up her sponge, she began gently dabbing her skin trying not to irritate the bruises, and allowed her thoughts to drift to Ichigo.

She wondered how he was doing.

She prayed that Soul Society weren't treating him too roughly.

She hoped he hadn't given up hope yet. They were coming for him. They were going to save him, and get him out of this mess.

The thought of Ichigo sitting in a cell, alone made her heart ache, and her resolve only strengthen.

Tomorrow she would ask Isshin to up his power.

She would try harder. She would be better.

"For Ichigo."

_xoxoxo_

"Eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

Renji frowned as he watched Rukia lean backwards on her chair to stair up at the ceiling sullenly.

"You haven't eaten in a while."

"I told you, I'm not hungry."

"Rukia."

It took a few moments for her to draw her gaze away from the ceiling and when she finally did, she looked Renji in the eye.

"How are you so calm about all of this?" she asked slowly, "how is this not bothering you as much as it's bothering me?"

Renji squirmed awkwardly in his seat, knowing automatically what she had been talking about. He had never been particularly good at expressing his emotions, especially to Rukia of all people.

"It's not that it isn't bothering me," he said carefully, "but…well what can _we _do Rukia?"

She huffed in frustration, "we can certainly do more than just sit here twiddling our thumbs! There's got to be a way to clear his name, before they…"

She trailed off suggestively, not wanting to say the fate that was soon to befall their friend.

"But what?"

"For starters," she said seriously, leaning forward on the desk to stare at Renji intently, "Ichigo is innocent, right?"

"Right."

"That means the real murderer is out there, right?"

"Right."

"So we find them. Simple."

Renji winced, "not so simple."

"Right," Rukia agreed with a sigh, "if the Royal Guard couldn't find the real culprit…"

"What chance do we have."

A depressing cloud wafted around the small office the pair sat in, as they considered the situation their friend was in.

It was very rare that they found themselves amidst something they had no control of, and it irked them both to no end. Especially knowing that Ichigo was innocent.

"Do you think they'll come?"

Rukia nodded, knowing immediately who he was talking about, "of course."

"What will we do?"

She bit her lip.

Her loyalties technically lay with Soul Society…her brother…

But Ichigo…she owed Ichigo so much. He was her best friend, her battle partner, a brother…she couldn't betray him.

"We do what's right."

Renji grinned.

The vitality and life that had been missing for him pintsize companion had been more or less vacant these past couple days, but he could see it was slowly returning.

"We'll get in a lot of shit for this, you know?"

The image of a disapproving Byakuya flashed in the forefront of her mind but she quickly pushed it away. Disappointment from Byakuya was a hell of a lot easier to deal with than knowing she had let her innocent friend die.

"Sometimes, Soul Society doesn't always know what's best."

_xoxoxo_

**A/N: **Slightly shorter chapter than usual I'm sorry! Ummm I don't' really have much to say, apart from sorry for the slight delay! Enjoy and please review ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

Her Turn

**Summary: **This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

6

Karin leant against the bricked wall, arms crossed firmly around her chest. Anyone foolish enough to approach her was swiftly sent reeling backwards from the intensity of her scowl.

She was _not _in a good mood.

More and more students filed out of the building, eager to get their weekend started, but Karin stayed put, keeping an eye out for a familiar and unmistakeable head of auburn hair.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait much longer. A few minutes later she watched Orihime walk slowly out of the gates with a group of girls that Karin didn't recognise.

She grimaced slightly as she jogged to catch up to Orihime. She would have much preferred Orihime to be with her more "spiritually in tune" friends, that way she could question them all.

"Hey, Orihime!"

Orihime and her group of companions stopped walking and turned to face Karin. Orihime's face lit up as she saw the smaller girl.

"Afternoon Karin-chan!" she chirped, automatically taking a few steps away from the girls she had been walking with and moving towards Karin.

Karin frowned, upon closer inspection Orihime didn't look like she felt too comfortable with the four or five girls she had been walking with. She looked relieved that Karin had interrupted their little discussion.

"Uh…can I borrow you for a sec?" she asked, still peering suspiciously at the girls behind Orihime.

Nodding a little too enthusiastically, Orihime turned back to her former companions.

"Sorry girls, I have to help Karin-chan um-"

"Isn't that his sister?"

Karin quirked an eyebrow up at the tall girl who had spoken, "excuse me?"

The tall girl stepped forward, "you're Ichigo-kun's sister?"

Orihime twitched, but kept the smile on her face as she placed a firm hand on Karin's shoulder.

"Sorry Nanai-chan, but we really have to go! I'll talk to you on Monday!" and with that she span Karin around and more or less dragged the extremely confused girl down the road.

"W-wait!" the Nanai and her friends called after them, but Orihime was relieved to see that they opted not to follow.

Once they rounded a corner Orihime let go of Karin's shoulders and leant against a railing, taking deep breaths.

"Sorry about that Karin-chan," she smiled weakly, "I've been trying to get rid of them since lunch. Tatsuki-chan isn't in today, you see."

Karin nodded in understanding, she doubted those girls would even attempt to harass Orihime with Tatsuki around.

"What were they bothering you about anyway?"

Almost immediately, Orihime's cheeks flushed and she waved her hands wildly in front of her face, "oh…you know…nothing, nothing really. Just silly things!"

Karin crossed her arms across her chest and quirked an eyebrow up, "they asked me about Ichi-nii."

Orihime sighed, sensing that Karin wasn't going to relent any time soon, "I didn't realise Kurosaki-kun was so popular," she muttered quietly, the blush still staining her cheeks, "they, um, they wanted to know if he was feeling any better."

Karin nodded, to explain Ichigo absence at school, Isshin had informed them that he was suffering a late case of chicken pox and a flu virus on top of that, meaning he was very contagious and would be unable to attend school for a while.

"so they could come and visit him," Orihime finished, a small pout on her lips, "since they know we're friends and sensei keeps giving me work to bring to him, they think I can bring them to see him."

Karin chuckled, trust her brother to become a girl magnet and not even realise it.

"Mou, it's not funny Karin-chan!" Orihime reprimanded, the small pout still on her face.

That only made Karin laugh some more, "I didn't peg you for the jealous type Orihime."

If Orihime had been red before, then now she resembled a beetroot.

"I'm n-not jealous!" she spluttered hiding her face in her hands, "I just…." she trailed off slowly, shaking her head, "what did you want to talk about anyway Karin-chan?"

Startled by Orihime's sudden change in topic, Karin sobered up straight away.

"It's about Ichi-nii."

Orihime nodded, she had assumed so.

"Tell me the truth," she said firmly, "it's been over a week now and he's not back. What's happening to him? Dad won't tell me anything and Yuzu keeps eating up all his obvious lies. So…I need you to tell me what's happening. Don't sugar coat it, I'm not a baby. Where is my brother?"

Orihime hesitated, she knew that Isshin had opted not to fill his two daughters in on what was happening to Ichigo at the moment. But, it had been more than a week since his trial and the fact that he wasn't home was understandably going to worry Karin and Yuzu.

"Kurosaki-kun is still in Soul Society," she said slowly before pausing. She knew that Isshin had his own reasons for not telling the girls their brothers fate but still, she could see it was visibly causing Karin distress not to know.

"Why? Dad said he'd be there for a week to fill in paperwork or some rubbish. It's been well over a week now and Ichi-nii hasn't even tried to communicate with us to let us know he's ok!"

Her fists were clenched and she was using all her might not to succumb to the tears that were desperate to fall.

"Karin-chan I…"

"Imagine you were me Orihime! Imagine you were the one sitting at home every night not knowing if your only brother was going to walk through that door or not? Imagine climbing into bed every night and having to pray that he's even alive because you just _know _that your father isn't going to tell you anything! Now imagine having to put on a brave face because your sister believes your fathers crappy lies and you know that telling her your fears will kill her inside. I just want to know Orihime, if it's good news, if it's bad news…I just need to know."

"Fine, I'll tell you," she relented, knowing that if she had been in Karin's position she would have gone insane with worry - hell, she knew exactly where Ichigo was and she was still horribly worried, "but you have to promise me you'll talk it out with your father as well, ok? Let him know that you know everything, that you're serious and that you want to talk, ok?"

Karin nodded.

"The trial didn't go well, Kurosaki-kun has been…well…they've sentenced him to execution," she said quietly, trying to ignore the pang in her heart.

Karin's eyes widened in shock and she reeled backwards slightly, "they want to kill Ichi-nii?" she gasped, "but why? He's innocent! Any idiot can see that."

"Urahara-san believes that because of the extremity of the crime, they just want to blame _someone_. Essentially, Kurosaki-kun is being used as a scapegoat."

"So…so what? I'm never going to see him again? They're going to kill him, just like that?"

"Not if we can help it, come on now Karin-chan, you know your father wouldn't give up just like that,. We're going to rescue him!"

Karin blinked.

She said it so easily, as if she had said something as average and everyday as, "oh, just popping to the store for some milk!"

"Rescue him? Who?"

"Hmm, well there's Uryu-kun, Sado-kun your father and me!" she smiled brightly, "we're going to go to Soul Society and rescue Kurosaki-kun!"

Karin was aware that Ichigo and his friends were no strangers to daring rescue missions. Heck, she was fairly certain that Ichigo had rescued Orihime once, but the idea still sounded worrying to her.

"When?" she asked warily.

"We're not sure yet, Urahara-san is waiting for an execution date to be set and then…well, then we'll go save him I suppose. We're training till then!" she smiled sheepishly, "your father's been helping me to train. He really tough you know? I can see where Kurosaki-kun gets it from!"

Karin stared up at Orihime, unsure of what to say next.

She felt relieved that they hadn't forgotten about Ichigo and were planning to abandon him, but still…

"Are you sure you can rescue him?"

Orihime didn't even need to hesitate, "I promise you, we'll rescue him."

There was no, "maybe" no "if" no hesitation. Orihime knew they would save him. They had to save him. She would not allow Ichigo to die.

"You sound so sure."

"Because I am sure," Orihime placed her hand over her heart, "it's one of these things I just feel. Kurosaki-kun isn't going to die. Not on my watch!" to ease the serious atmosphere that had come over the pair, Orihime struck one of Isshin's famous "Good Guy" poses and grinned cheesily at Karin.

"Come on Karin-chan, have faith in u-"

Orihime stiffened suddenly, immediately dropping the "Good Guy" pose as she felt the familiar heavy reiatsu that belonged to a Hollow. Next to her, Karin turned slightly, clearly catching a weaker sense of the reiatsu Orihime was feeling.

The dark cloud she could envision belonging to the Hollow was getting closer to their location and Orihime bit her lip. It wasn't often that the Shinigami stationed in Karakura didn't deal with any rogue Hollow themselves.

"Get behind me Karin-chan," she said quietly, eyes narrowing as she felt the ominous reiatsu inching ever closer.

It didn't feel _too _powerful, but Orihime had long since stopped assuming that would make it an easy battle. If you didn't give it your all, the Hollow would take advantage and in a second it would be over for you.

Karin complied easily, slipping behind the older woman. She too could sense that something evil was honing in on their location.

"Shouldn't we run?" she whispered, wondering why Orihime hadn't moved an inch.

Orihime shook her head, "there's no point. We might as well deal with it now, the longer we wait the more of a problem it'll become for someone else."

A deafening roar shook the surroundings around them and Karin took a shocked step backwards as the creature they were waiting for rounded the corner.

In the last couple of years, her little "talent" of seeing the spiritual world had grown quite a bit and she had seen her fair share of ghosts, Shinigami and Hollow. But she had never seen anything as large as the one that was crawling hungrily towards them.

It looked like a giant, deformed ant. It crawled along on its stomach, using it's long thin arms and legs to drag it slowly.

"Its been feeding," Orihime noted, wincing for the poor souls it had already eaten. Its thick black body pulsated and long white lumps of drool slid untamed from it's sharp pincers. Its mask covered its large face and Orihime stared defiantly back at it as it opened its mouth to roar menacingly at them.

The Hollow picked up the pace, finally seeming to notice that both Orihime and Karin had high levels of reiatsu and would make a delicious meal.

"Orihime…" Karin whimpered, wondering why she hadn't put her shield up yet.

Orihime chewed her lip.

Timing was everything.

"Orihime…"

It wasn't far now. Karin could taste its vile stench.

Orihime raised her arms.

The Hollow lunged, mouth wide.

Karin raised her hands above her head, bracing herself for the impact. Instead of hearing Orihime screaming in fear as the Hollow attacked her, Karin heard a strange deep strangled cry.

Peeking out from behind her arms, her eyes widened in shock at what she saw.

"Woah, I didn't know you could do that," she said in awe.

Orihime grinned and took a deep breath, "I've been practising, it…it takes a lot out of me so far though."

Instead of using her powers to create a shield between them and the Hollow she had created a sort of cage out of her powers and dropped it on the Hollow.

Impressed, Karin watched as the Hollow hissed in displeasure as it tried to smash through the bright orange barrier, only to be rebounded backwards. It was a strong beast, but Orihime's cage was stronger.

"Not done yet though," Orihime huffed, standing in her battle position, "Tsubaki!" she called and in an instant the small fiery fairy darted out from her hairpins.

Karin watched in awe as the small spitfire flew around Orihime's head.

"Oi, this is a big one," he noted, glaring at the Hollow as it once again tried and failed to break the cage Orihime had created, "you gotta use a lot of power for it."

Orihime nodded, "I understand Tsubaki-kun!"

Tsubaki nodded and shot forward as Orihime whispered, "_Koten Zanshun!"_

Tsubaki shot forward like a bullet and Karin watched, entranced, as he slammed into the orange cage. The cage rippled as Tsubaki collided with it and then vanished.

Karin's eyes widened as the rippling cage stilled.

"What happened? Didn't it work? Di-"

Her mouth fell open in shock as the cage illuminated and thousands of bright orange beams erupted from seemingly nowhere and pierced the Hollow from all angles.

Orihime winced as the Hollow howled out as Tsubaki's attack begun. She knew the Soul trapped in the Hollow was being cleansed and it would all be over shortly, but it still didn't feel right. Hurting another creature like that.

With one final cry of anger, the Hollow exploded into a bright light and was no more. Automatically, Orihime brought the cage back and all that was left was the tiny Tsubaki, fluttering back to them and looking fairly pleased with himself.

"What was that?" Karin asked curiously, stepping forward now to get a better look at Tsubaki before he disappeared back into his slot in the hairclips.

Orihime looked upwards, considering how best to answer the question, "well…the cage is sort of like my shield, I just have to make it sturdier. It takes a lot out of me, but it's a good technique for capturing people I suppose," she blushed, "this is the first time I've used it in actual battle, I'm kinda surprised it worked so well."

"And Tsubaki? What was up with that?"

"Ah! Well, the cage helps to magnify Tsubaki-kun's power. Instead of a bullet, when he collides with the cages walls, he becomes like a little machine gun?"

Karin nodded, understanding Orihime's analogy. Watching the little beams of light attack the Hollow was certainly very reminiscent of a machine gun, as opposed to the bullet path Tsubaki usually worked in.

"It's awesome," Karin said earnestly, "this is what you've been working on with my Dad?"

"Yes, that and building up my general stamina and how much force my shields can take. He's…he's a really good man Karin-chan, I know you're mad at him but he really is wonderful."

Karin snorted. People outside of their immediate family tended to have that view on Isshin, whilst those closest to him tended to disagree thoroughly.

"I just want him to stop lying to me," she decided to say instead, "and stop treating me like a baby. I can see all the same crap you guys all see you know?"

"Talk to him…seriously," Orihime urged, "he's just doing all of this to protect you, you just need to let him know there's ways of protecting you without lying to you."

Karin grinned up at the older woman, "I keep saying this, but you're pretty wise Orihime."

She smiled and blushed, "thank you Karin-chan!"

"Ichi-nii needs to hurry up and get his act together," Karin added snidely, taking pleasure in watching the blush on Orihime's face escalate with seconds.

Ignoring Orihime's splutters, Karin proceeded to shuffle slowly down the road, "come on Orihime, I think Dad's working late tonight, you can come and hang with me and Yuzu!"

Once she was sure that Orihime was following her, (still blushing and stammering), Karin turned around and allowed the first true smile she ad felt in a while spread over her face.

She wasn't sure what her brother had done to deserve it, but he had gotten himself a good group of friends.

How many people could say they had a group of friends willing to risk their lives for just one sour faced jerk? She glanced at Orihime who was catching up and shook her head.

She didn't know what Ichigo had done to warrant the attention and love of the auburn haired woman but whatever it was, she was glad.

They were good for each other.

"Really Karin-chan," Orihime whined as she finally caught up with the girl, "you shouldn't make assumptions!"

Karin snorted.

_xoxoxo_

379.

There were exactly 379 tiles on his ceiling. He theorised there was a possibility of there originally being 401 due to a small hole in the ceiling in the corner.

Boredom was an understatement for what he was feeling. Once he had counted every single tile on his ceiling at least ten times, he took up the task of counting each and every brick that made up the walls of his cell.

It was only these repetitive tasks that had stopped him from going insane.

The solitude of being incarcerated was getting to him, he hated to admit. He had never been a particularly talkative person, but he found himself longing for the two times a day a random Shinigami would visit his cell to shove a pitiful excuse of food through the bars.

They would never reply to him, but he didn't care. He would ask them questions, shout at them, provoke them, anything. As long as he got a little human interaction out of it, he didn't particularly mind.

He had long since lost count of how many days it had been since he had been thrown in the cell. A week? Two?

He frowned as he tried to figure it out, but soon gave up. He didn't even know what time of day it was. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. It had gotten so long recently, a look he wasn't particularly fond of.

His hygiene had taken a turn for the worse since his incarceration as well. The only means he had of washing himself was a small sink in the far right hand corner of his cell.

A sink that was very temperamental. Most days, no matter how far he turned the taps, the water would not come out. And on the rare occasions it did, it would shoot out blackened, muddy water for a few minutes before a _slightly _clearer water would come trickling out.

The decision to _never _drink from the tap no matter how thirsty he got was an easy one to make.

The sounds of light footsteps padding towards his cell interrupted his counting of bricks and he turned his head slowly to the side to watch the nameless Shinigami approach his cell.

"Oi," he called, pushing himself off his mattress, "is there anything better to eat today? Last nights was crap."

And he wasn't exaggerating. He had been given a strange brown mushy substance that stunk. Taking a bite of it had taken all his willpower.

The Shinigami cocked an eyebrow up at him but said nothing. He fished around his waist and pulled out a slim key and deposited it inside a small keyhole.

Ichigo watched as a square hole was opened within the cell bars and the Shinigami pushed the small box of food through it.

It clattered to the floor with a dull thud and within seconds the hole that had been opened was promptly shut.

"Thanks," Ichigo grunted as he plodded over to it. The Shinigami said nothing before moving off. He had two other boxes under his arms and Ichigo wondered who the other two poor souls were who had been imprisoned here.

He wondered if they, like him, had been imprisoned unfairly, or if they deserved it.

His eyes widened in surprise as he tore open the box to get a better look at the food he had been given. He pulled out two rather thick slices of bread and a small pot of what he assumed was some sort of soup. He ripped open the lid of the pot and took a tentative sip of the soup. It was cold, but he reasoned it didn't taste too bad - it was probably tomato soup.

Taking his rations back to his mattress he flopped onto it and settled himself to enjoy the meal he had been given.

He pulled a piece of bread apart, ignoring how hard it was, and dipped it into the cold soup. It was a passable meal, nothing compared to the loving meals Yuzu cooked for them at home, but it was definitely the nicest thing he had eaten since being incarcerated.

"Damn it," he muttered between mouthfuls. He had been doing so well not to allow his thoughts to drift to his family and friends back home, but the image of Yuzu smiling over a table of freshly cooked food was now firmly imprinted in his mind and he suddenly felt ill.

"Stop it, stop it," he growled, shaking his head and forcibly pushing Yuzu out of his mind. His dreams at night were already plagued with her smiling face or Karin's sarcastic smirk, he didn't need to see them while he was awake.

Not if he could help it.

Yuzu's face finally vanished and he took a satisfactory bite of the stale bread. The edges were hard but the middle was pleasantly soft.

_Got nothing on Inoue's though_, he thought truthfully as he swallowed a chunk. Almost immediately the image of Orihime standing outside his window with a basket of bread was swimming in his mind and he groaned.

Orihime was rapidly climbing to the top of the list of people he was desperately trying not to think about. Whenever he did he found his already strained mood would deteriorate immensely.

He had long since accepted that Orihime was an important part of his life.

She had been there through the good, the bad, and the ugly. She had been there, standing resolutely by his side even when he had lost hope in himself.

She had seen him at his worst. She had seen him commit actions that still made him shiver in fear and yet…and yet she was still there.

He didn't know what he had done to deserve such a caring force in his life, but he was damn grateful. And the fact that he would probably never see her again was physically painful.

When he thought about it, his heart would contract rapidly till his chest began to actually feel tight.

He had promised to protect her hadn't he? He didn't doubt that she could protect herself, no, he knew she could in battle. But there were things, real world things that Orihime was just so damn naïve about. Who would protect her now? He knew Tatsuki would be there to help her, but Tatsuki couldn't always be there.

His heart tugged and he sighed put his food down, opting to lay down on his mattress and hopefully get some sleep.

As much as he hated to admit it, he just wanted this all to be over with. Spending hours upon hours each day reminiscing about his loved ones he wouldn't see again, it was too painful. Like an advanced form of torture.

He was sick of it.

Whether he lived or died, he wanted it done with.

_xoxoxo_

Rin Kiyomizu sighed, running a slim hand through her auburn tresses. It wasn't often she allowed her hair to run free from the tight bun she usually kept it in, but He had always liked it when she let her hair down.

"Why did you have to leave me," she murmured sadly, eyes drifting to the large family portrait that hung over the small fireplace. She had always loved that picture.

Miki and Haru were sat in the front, arms wrapped lovingly around each other and stood behind her were herself, and her husband.

He looked so happy, one arm placed over Haru's head, ruffling his youngest child's hair and the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her in lovingly.

A dry sob fell from her lips as she turned away from the photograph. It had been taken just a few months before all the trouble started.

She knew she would never be able to get used to this. Waking up and turning over to an empty bed was something that sent her into tears each and every morning without fail. Such a simple task, and yet it reduced her into a blubbering mess.

Waking up Haru and seeing her husbands face in his innocent features made her feel sick. Hugging Miki and seeing the pain in her daughters eyes made her feel helpless. Like she had failed her children in some way.

A knock on the door startled her and she quickly wiped the tears away from her cheeks and hoped that her eyes weren't too red.

"Who is it?" she called, coughing as she realised her voice had adopted the croaky tone associated with someone who had just been crying.

"Asuna-san your Majesty!"

"Come in," she replied, recognising the voice as that of one of her personal stewards. The door was pushed open and a fairly pudgy brunette waddled in. He bowed quickly before approaching her desk.

"My apologies for interrupting," Asuna said politely.

"It's fine Asuna, I was just…reading," she finished quietly.

Asuna smiled sadly, he was rather fond of his Queen. She was a feisty and fierce woman, but she was honourable and loving, he didn't like to see her suffering so.

"Masao-sama has taken Haruki-sama to his quarters with him."

Rin nodded, Haru had always taken a liking to the Shinigami lifestyle and was desperate to learn as much as possible about it. For the past few months he had been bothering Masao every time he saw him, asking to let him follow him around for a day or two. She smiled as she realised Masao was doing her a favour.

It was no secret that her relationship with her children had been stressed lately. With the death of her husband, their _father_, she had been an emotional wreck and had begun to avoid her children. How could she face them with tears rolling down her face? It was shameful. She was supposed to be their rock in times of need after all.

"Where is Miki?" she asked.

"The library I believe your Majesty."

"Thank you Asuna, you may go."

Asuna bowed and backed out of the room.

"Wait!"

He paused, "your Majesty?"

Rin bit her bottom lip before pushing herself up from her seat, "the Kurosaki man. Where is he?"

Asuna frowned, "I believe he has been incarcerated in a prison in Soul Society, your Majesty."

Rin nodded to herself, "I see. When Masao returns, please tell him to find me."

"Certainly, your Majesty," he said, bowing one final time before leaving the study, recognising the silent dismissal.

Silence permeated the room once Asuna had left and Rin allowed herself to settle back into her seat.

"Closure," she mumbled quietly, "I need closure."

The man who had killed her husband would be killed, that she was certain of. But was it enough?

She had to know why. She needed to know why he had decided to tear her family apart. She also wanted to make him suffer.

Suffer just as she was. Just as her children were.

_xoxoxo_


	7. Chapter 7

Her Turn

**Summary: **This time, she would save him. No matter the costs.

_xoxoxo_

7

She lay quietly on the dusty floor of Urahara's underground training room. Isshin had gone home a while ago but she had stayed. Whilst training with a partner was slightly more desirable, Orihime found that training by herself was equally helpful.

A testament to her hard work, seven large glowing cages were dotted around the training ground. She turned her head to the side and smiled weakly as she stared at the nearest and largest cage to her. When she had first attempted this technique with Isshin it had taken just about all her energy out of her to create and sustain one cage for more than ten seconds. Now she could easily create about three before she began to tire.

Tentatively, she tried to wiggle her fingers and was rather disappointed to see that they did nothing more than rise from the ground slightly before flopping back.

She pouted as she resigned herself to the fact that she'd be lying on the floor for a while longer.

Creating and keeping seven up had completely drained her.

She sighed and closed her eyes. In an instance all seven cage vanished in a flurry of wind and bright light.

"12 minutes," she mumbled as she once again tried, and failed, to move her body in any significant manner, "I can keep it up for 12 minutes, and even then it drains me completely."

It was an annoying predicament. In battle, restraining an opponent in an impenetrable cage would be an amazing advantage, however if it rendered her unable to even move her body for a while afterwards she would ultimately become a hindrance.

They were coming up to the two week mark since Ichigo's trial and they had yet to hear any information about his execution date. Orihime was still undecided as to whether that was a good or bad thing.

On one hand, it meant that she and the others had more time to train. But on the other hand, the fact that they hadn't heard _anything _regarding Ichigo was mildly worrying. It made her anxious not to know anything.

The familiar sound of footsteps scraping across the dusty floor caught her attention. Tilting her head slightly towards the entrance of the underground training room. Recognising the sandaled feet that were making their way towards her she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. She still felt horribly weak but to pleasure in noting that her recovery time was speeding up quickly. Last time it had taken her at least half an hour after taking down her cages to even _think _about sitting up.

"I must admit," Urahara said kindly as he approached Orihime, "I was surprised to hear that you were still down here. Isshin left several hours ago, no?"

Orihime flushed slightly and ducked her head, "I wanted to try training on my own for a while," she admitted quietly, "we don't have much time left and…and I'm still nowhere at the level I should be yet!"

She hated how bitter she sounded, but she was fed up with the unfairness of it all already. Isshin kept telling her that he was impressed with how much she had improved but she couldn't help but think he was just saying it to be polite.

A sharp pain reverberated through her head and after gasping out in pain she glanced up to find Urahara crouched down in front of her with his fan stretched outwards. Belatedly she realised that he had whacked with it.

"Urahara-san…" she mumbled, rubbing her forehead gently where he had hit her, "you really have to stop doing that!"

Urahara simply shrugged. People had been telling him that his habit of whacking people with his fan when they annoyed him was definitely _not ok, _but he had yet to listen. It got them to shut up faster after all.

"You're very self depreciating," he said simply, looking at Orihime with the faintest hint of sadness, "don't sell yourself short."

He stood up to his full form and extended a hand for her. She glanced at it in disbelief for a few seconds before accepting his aid.

Her legs felt mildly rubbery as she stood up and she was rather embarrassed when she fell forward slightly and into Urahara's chest.

"See what I mean?" she huffed as he steadied her, "I'm not good enough yet! What good will I be in battle if after using my powers I'm reduced to a pile of goo? How can I save Kurosaki-kun like this? I don't want to get in the way anymore!" her eyes began to sting with unshed tears and she ducked her head to hide her weakness from Urahara.

She'd been trying so hard. And it just wasn't good enough.

Once again, she felt the familiar weight of Urahara's trusty fan being pushed against her forehead. This time however, the force he usually used was vacant. It was more of a light tap. Swallowing thickly, she looked up in confusion.

"My, my, my," he sighed, "I fear I'm the cause of this inferiority complex of yours."

Orihime squirmed nervously, "ah…um…how?"

"All that business with the Arrancar several years ago. Just after Tsubaki was destroyed…"

"Oh."

He didn't need to say anymore, Orihime knew exactly what incident he was referring to.

Tsubaki had just been destroyed by Yammy, (something she had still yet to forgive herself for), and they had been preparing for another bout of fighting against the Arrancar. At the time, she had been eager to get involved in the fighting and help her friends and comrades as much as possible. However Urahara uttered his disapproval and asked her to stay away from the fighting.

He said it was because Tsubaki had been destroyed, meaning she would have no offensive techniques. That had been a big enough blow to her self esteem, but Chad had defended her. Whilst she might not have Tsubaki by her side, she was still a healer, and they would need healers after all. Urahara had simply shaken his head and said he believed the fourth division healers would be better suited to the job than she.

And then he had uttered the words that had brought her to tears:

"_a soldier who has lost his power would just get in the way" ._

He hadn't said it outright, but the implication was there.

She was weak.

She would bring the group down.

She was a hindrance.

"You were only speaking the truth," she said quietly. His words had hurt, but they were the truth after all.

To her surprise, Urahara shook his head.

"At the time…perhaps," he shrugged, "but now, now those words couldn't be further from the truth. Orihime-chan, you're an asset to this rag-tag rescue team we've put together. The only thing holding you back is this belief that you're not good enough. Once you realise that you are, indeed, good enough, you'll be able to realise your true potential. Confidence is key after all!"

"You really believe that Urahara-san?" she asked with wide eyes.

He nodded, "of course. I've been watching you train with Isshin. I'm impressed with how far you've come. Surely Isshin's told you that as well?"

She blushed, but nodded, "I…well, I thought he was just saying it to be nice."

Urahara laughed, "Isshin is very serious about the task you have coming up ahead. I can assure you, he'll tell you if he thinks you're not up to scratch. He wouldn't even consider bringing any of you with him if he didn't think you can handle it."

Orihime's strength had begun to return to her and the pair had begun making their way towards the exit.

"Thank you," she said softly and her eyes revealed just how earnest her gratification was. Gone were the unshed tears of defeat, and in turn was replaced with a fiery determination.

Urahara waved an airy hand as if to say, _no big deal_.

They walked in silence for the rest of the short journey, only once they were back inside Urahara's home did Orihime speak again.

She bit her bottom lip and carefully considered her question.

It had been playing on her mind for quite a while now and she figured that asking Urahara was probably her best bet, she just hadn't had any opportunity to ask him until now.

Clasping her hands together nervously she turned around to face him.

"Um, Urahara-san, there's something I've been wondering for a while now…" she trailed off and waited for him to nod in acknowledgment before she continued, "after we save him, what happens then? If we just come back to Karakura, won't they just send somebody to take him again?"

Urahara smirked grimly, "funnily enough, Isshin and I were discussing that earlier."

"Did you come up with a solution?"

"No."

"Ah."

He scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I'm working on something that should be able to either mask Ichigo's reiatsu completely or distort it somehow to keep him from detection when you bring him back, however there's no way to confirm that it'll be ready for when you return."

Orihime sighed. There was no doubt about it, they _had _to rescue Ichigo before his execution. But with no sure fire way if assuring his protection when he arrived, she couldn't help but admit it felt slightly pointless.

"It feels like a pointless mission, doesn't it?" he said knowingly, as if he had just read her mind.

She nodded reluctantly, "we have to save Kurosaki-kun…but, if they're just going to come for him again afterwards…"

"The logical train of thought is to both rescue Ichigo and clear his name. Find out who really committed the crime."

"Is that what Kurosaki-san plans to do?" she asked curiously.

Urahara shrugged, "it would be the ideal step. However, you don't have time to be playing detective whilst you're in Soul Society. If you find out information along the way, then by all means use it to clear his name. Anyway," he clapped his hands together and smiled jovially, "you let me think of what will happen afterwards, you focus on training, understood?"

She returned the grin, "understood!"

_xoxoxo_

Yawning loudly, not really caring that he earned a few disapproving stares, Masao slouched along the corridor of a Royal castle.

The last few weeks had been extremely hectic for the young Captain and for the first time since he had accepted the band he wore proudly on his arm, he began to wonder if perhaps he should have declined the job.

The Kings assassination had launched an inquest into the Royal Guard. His entire regime was under attack. He sighed as he continued to plod along the corridor. The Council had begun to question _how _exactly someone had managed to break into the Royal Realm as well as the castle. They had begun to criticise Masao's ability as a successful Captain.

To some extent, he understood why they were treating him so harshly. The murder of the King was no laughing matter, and he too wanted to know why his subordinates had failed so badly in protecting the castle. However, Masao trusted the men and women he had appointed to be a part of the Guard and he knew that if they had failed against the Kurosaki boy, then they had gone down fighting hard.

The Kurosaki boy was another problem nagging at the back of his mind.

The boy had been adamant that he didn't commit the crime, and for some reason, Masao was inclined to believe him. All the evidence pointed to him, but Masao couldn't suppress the feeling that he was missing something.

He wanted to question the boy at least one more time, but travelling to Soul Society so often was unwise, especially amidst all the chaos and unrest that was going on at the moment. Yawning once more, he shook his head causing several strands of hair to fall free from the loose ponytail he wore. He absentmindedly pushed the loose hair behind his ear and knocked on the door of the room before him.

Rin had asked to see him a few days ago, but he had been so damn busy with everything he just didn't have the time. In truth, if he could have gotten his way he would have told her he was still busy and put off their meeting for at least one more day - he was drained after all and wanted nothing more than a good nights sleep.

He also wanted to hurry home to Aiko. The small girl got particularly difficult when they were apart for too long and he knew that Riru's patience wouldn't stretch far enough to handle Aiko if she had a tantrum.

But he reasoned that Rin was a friend, and it wouldn't do well to betray her patience and trust in him just because he was a little tired. Still, he hoped this would be a quick meeting.

He didn't have to wait long for a response. Just a few seconds after knocking on the door, he heard the muffled sounds of someone shuffling about in the room behind it before he heard Rin's distinct voice call out, "come in."

Without hesitating he pushed open the door and slipped in quietly, taking care to shut it firmly behind him.

He stared curiously around the room he had just entered. Never in his career had he ever needed to enter the private chambers of Rin and Minoru before. Any business that needed to be settled was done in one of the many study rooms or chambers that resided within the castle. He had to admit, he felt mildly awkward standing in her bedroom.

It was a large circular room, with a large dark brown bed dominating the majority of the floor space. Thick red curtains covered the large windows, drowning the room in darkness. The only source of light came from several candles that sat atop a desk which was pushed into a far corner of the room. Two large wardrobes and matching drawer sets lined the opposite wall and he felt a pang of sadness as he realised that one of those would have belonged to Minoru.

A large family portrait matching the one the sat in Rin's study hung over the bed. His fists clenched as he stared at Minoru's smiling face.

It felt wrong to be here without him.

When he had been alive, the two had been good friends. It was Minoru's influence that ultimately convinced him to join the Royal Guard. Who knew what kind of dangerous and pathless life he would be living now if it wasn't for the jovial man in the portrait.

"Thank you for coming Masao," Rin said quietly, breaking the thick silence that had encompassed the room. She was sat at the desk, a large diary type journal sat in front of her.

"Nonsense, your majesty," he said immediately, bowing his head, "it's my job to serve you after all."

Rin smiled sadly and shook her head.

"We're talking as friends tonight Masao."

He lifted his head an matched her smile, "understood Rin-chan."

Wordlessly, she beckoned him closer and he took the seat nearest hers, "what're you reading?" he asked, inclining his head towards the red journal that lay open on the desk.

"Oh, just Minoru's old things. He wrote a lot you know?"

Masao nodded, Minoru loved literature and loved reading and writing, a love that he seemed to have passed to his daughter, if the amount of the time she spent in the library was anything to go by.

With a soft clap, Rin shut the red journal and placed it atop a pile of other journals that looked like they had been thumbed through pretty vigorously.

"How was Haru the other day?" she said abruptly, changing the topic quickly. Masao frowned for a second or two, trying to understand the question.

"I was told you took him down to your quarters with you?"

"Ah, oh yes! He's been asking to see what we do for a while now, I figured now was a good a time as any to show him around. I hope you didn't mind?"

She shook her head and smiled brightly, "he enjoyed it a lot. It was nice to see him finally smiling again at dinner that night."

He returned her smile only half heartedly. It was no secret that her relationship with her children had become rather strained since Minoru's death, to hear that this was the first time Haru had smiled properly in a while was almost heartbreaking. Especially as Masao knew just how bright and contagious Haru's smile really was.

"We're getting better," Rin continued quietly, "_I'm _getting better. We'll get through this."

"You're a strong woman Rin and your children are equally as strong. I have no doubt that you will absolutely get through this."

She hummed in response.

"Any idea when they're going to request I step down?" she had swivelled round on her chair and was now staring intently at the portrait that hung over her large bed.

Immediately, Masao understood what she was talking about.

As Rin was not a direct descendent of the Kiyomizu family, she was unsuited to rule for an extended period of time. The only reason the Council had allowed her to rule in the coming weeks since Minoru's death was because the reservoirs that contained his reiatsu were still intact.

However, they would not last forever.

"I've only heard rumours so far," he admitted, "but you don't have till worry until after Kurosaki's execution. After that, things will get more pressing."

"And what are they going to suggest?"

He hesitated for only a second before ploughing on, it was best she heard this from him after all, "I believe…they're going to demand Miki-chan step up to the throne."

Rin tittered in disgust, "the one thing Minoru didn't want."

"I know."

"Do _they _know?" she turned back around to face Masao and glared at him, her eyes dancing with anger, "do they know she is only fourteen years old? She's incapable of ruling so young."

"There's been younger monarchs," Masao put in quietly, "but I understand what you mean!" he added quickly, noting that Rin's eyebrows had shot up in anger at his statement, "Miki-chan isn't fit to rule just yet."

She groaned, leaning into her hands, "we wanted to keep them away from the politics of all it for as long as possible you know? Minoru didn't have much of a childhood, he was always in lessons or being forced to attend meeting with his father, we didn't want that for them. We wanted them to just be children. And I can't even give her that…" her voice cracked as she trailed off and she roughly wiped her eyes, intending on keeping her tears at bay for just that little bit longer.

"This isn't your fault Rin," Masao said urgently, "none of this is. I'm here for you, you have a lot of people who are on your side. Nobody knows how long Minoru's reservoirs will last for, for all we know they could last another eight years."

"The Council do not want me to rule," she muttered bitterly, "they barely managed to hide their disgust when Minoru announced he would be marrying me."

"Untrue," Masao said, pretending to be hurt by her words, "I also hold a seat on the Council don't forget. My voice counts for something, and I'll be fighting for you, I can assure you that."

"Thank you Masao," she said earnestly, "you've been an amazing friend these past few weeks. Minoru would be proud."

"I'm just doing my duty," he muttered, blushing lightly at the compliment.

Rin shook her head and waved her hand condescendingly in front of his face, "no, you've gone above and beyond your duty. I can't tell you how grateful my family are. Remind me to sort a pay rise out or something for you," she added with a wink.

"A holiday would be nice," he laughed.

"When everything settles down, you can take as much time off as you'd like. That's an order."

Masao smiled at her little attempt of humour. In reality, they both knew he'd never be able to take a real holiday, but a few days off here and then would be helpful.

"So, not to rush you, is that all you wanted to speak to me about tonight?"

She stiffened automatically and the smile fell from her lips.

"I shall take that as a no."

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she chewed thoughtfully on it. It was a bad habit that she hadn't managed to rid herself of from her teenage years.

Masao waited patiently, knowing that she was gearing herself up to ask him something big. As always, he intuition was spot on.

"I want to see him," she suddenly spat out bluntly, almost as if she wanted to get the words out as quickly as possible.

Masao blinked, sure he had misheard what she had said.

"E-excuse me?"

"The Kurosaki boy, I want to see him for myself."

"Why?!" he spluttered in confusion.

She deliberated her answer for a few moments before apparently deciding on what she wanted to say, "I want to see the face of the man who murdered my husband. I want to know _why_. I need to see him for myself."

"Rin…" Masao sighed, "I told you before didn't I, he won't admit to the crime."

She shrugged, "that doesn't matter. I still would like to…talk…with him."

Masao raised an eyebrow. He had joined the Royal Guard a while after Rin had left it to marry Minoru, but her reputation still preceded her. He had heard stories of her demolishing buildings with a single fist. He had never asked her about the stories and had assumed they were just exaggerated rumours, however, as he stared at the untamed anger etched on to her face he began to wonder if they were as exaggerated as he had once thought.

"You can't kill him, Rin," he said bluntly.

"I won't, I just want to talk with him."

Masao was not convinced.

"I don't think this is a good idea. You can't really leave the Royal Realm at a time like this after all."

"So bring him here."

"Ri-"

"Masao." her voice was cold and firm, "I would like to talk to Kurosaki. I'm asking you as a friend to understand that I need this. Think of it as closure."

The pair sat staring at each other icily for a few moments, before Masao finally caved.

"Fine," he sighed, letting his disapproval show clearly on his face, "I'll have it arranged. It may take a few days."

The hostility disappeared from her face almost immediately, "see, now that wasn't too hard was it!" she laughed, ignoring the scathing look Masao was sending her way.

_xoxoxo_

Orihime giggled as she watched a particularly funny sketch on _Laugh Hour_. She didn't understand why the show wasn't more popular, it was so hilarious after all. Her giggles subsided and she leant into her couch, wrapping her blanket tighter around her body as she relaxed.

It had been a long time since she had actually just sat back and relaxed. Since Ichigo had been taken, she had been so high strung that she had forgotten to enjoy life. Training was important and everything, but Orihime always secretly thought that people underestimated just how important laughter and happiness also were.

Her eyes lit up as one of her favourite presenters sauntered cockily onto the screen and she inadvertedly leaned closer towards her TV screen. The presenter began to call audience members onto the stage to sit above a pool of custard. The presenter began interviewing the audience members and she frowned as she realised that she couldn't quite hear what he was saying.

A soft tapping noise was distracting her attention.

Still frowning, she fished around underneath her blankets for her remote and aimed it at her television set.

For a few seconds, the tapping noise vanished and she leaned back into her couch satisfied. As soon as she got comfortable once again, the tapping started. Much louder this time.

Alert, she stood up from her couch and stared around her darkened living room. Her narrowed eyes searched slowly, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

The tapping picked up the pace and was much louder.

She turned around fully and stared out of her window, before blushing and rushing towards it. Crouched on top of her windowsill was a small black cat with an irked scowl on its face.

"Ah~" she whimpered as she unlocked the window and hoisted it upwards to open it, "Yourichi-san! Sorry, I was distracted by _Laugh Hour _and I didn't even _think _to check for reiatsu a-"

The cat version of Yourichi stuck out a paw to silence Orihime.

"Get to Urahara's house" she said in the deep voice she spoke in as a cat, "now."

Without waiting to see if Orihime had responded to her command, Yourichi was off jumping from roof to roof, presumably to inform someone else of the message she had just given Orihime.

Even if she had thought to turn around, she wouldn't have seen anything. As soon as Yourichi had turned around, Orihime had slammed the window shut and was rushing to her bedroom to find some appropriate clothes to throw on.

She was out of her apartment and running down the stairs in under three minutes.

_xoxoxo_

She arrived at Urahara's to find Uryu already there and waiting impatiently. Chad arrived a few minutes after her.

They sat in silence for at least five minutes. The tension in the air was almost tangible and Orihime couldn't rid herself of the lump in her throat.

She was nervous. What was possibly so important that Urahara would call them here so late at night? Fearing the worst, she jumped slightly as a human looking Yourichi ambled into the room. She nodded to the teens before barking at Urahara,

"Isshin will be here shortly, I've told him everything."

Urahara nodded before turning to the teens before him and sighing.

"They're moving him," he said simply.

"They're…moving him?" Orihime repeated in confusion, peering round quickly to get a glance at Uryu and Chad.

They both wore similar looks of confusion on their faces, and she felt relieved to know that she wasn't the only one who didn't quite understand the significance of Urahara's statement.

"And why," Uryu asked slowly, "why do you look so serious about this fact?"

"Where are they moving him to?" Chad asked.

"To the Royal Realm."

Silence permeated the air. Nobody had expected this development. When Yourichi finally returned, they had expected her to reveal details of an execution date. To hear that he was being brought to the Royal Realm was shocking. How did they even get into the Royal Realm? She wasn't sure exactly how it worked, but she knew it wasn't as simple as breaking into Soul Society. And that in itself wasn't exactly easy.

"Why?"

Urahara turned to Yourichi who was leant against the wall, a look of worry etched into her usually calm features, "nobody knows for sure. The rumours are saying it's a direct order from the Queen though."

"They're…they're not going to execute him earlier are they?" Orihime whispered, clenching her fists as she uttered the words that were on all of their minds.

Yourichi shook her head.

"No, a date hasn't been set just yet. It's very unlikely that they'll go ahead with it early."

"But there's a possibility they could?"

Yourichi sighed, "I suppose so, yes."

Her heart clenched tightly at the words but she carried on. With the way things were developing, there was no time for weakness. No time for hesitation.

"Urahara-san-" she began, but was cut off as the door was pushed open and Isshin walked in. He was already in his Shinigami form.

"Kisuke," he said briskly, "open up a senkai gate now."

"Isshin-" Urahara started, but once again Isshin cut him off.

"You know as well as I know that getting to him after they take him to the Royal Realm is going to be nearly impossible. It's not the most desirable of circumstances, but if we're going to save him, we need to go now."

The two men stared at each other fiercely for a few moments, and Orihime felt she understood was going on unsaid between the two.

He'd never admit it to any of them, but Orihime suspected that Urahara had grown rather protective over all of them.

She could only imagine his hesitance to send them to Soul Society if he didn't think they were ready. It would be horrendous to have any injuries or casualties resting on his shoulders.

Almost as if he had been reading her mind, the blonde haired shop keeper abruptly broke away from Isshin and turned to face them.

"Are you all ready?" Urahara asked, questioning the three teens who stood before him, "you understand how dangerous this is going to be, so I will ask you again, are you ready?"

Uryu nodded sharply. Upon getting the message from Yourichi to meet at Urahara's he had promptly changed into his Quincy gear. He flexed his fingers, itching to create an arrow.

Training both alone and with Chad had paid off immensely. He had improved and he had been itching to try out his new skills for real on someone. _Those Shinigami are in for a surprise, _he thought to himself, a soft smirking crossing his otherwise emotionless features.

"I'm good," Chad mumbled, tensing his arm. If he was honest with himself, even if he wasn't capable he still would have uttered those words. Leaving Ichigo was simply not an option for the gentle giant. Besides, like Uryu, training had paid off for him as well. He had long since become accustomed to his unique powers and had learnt to harness them to their full ability. Working in the human world put a limit on just _how _much he could use his powers, but he knew that in the reishi dense Soul Society, his powers would come to life that little bit more.

Like Uryu, he too smirked. Soul Society were in for a good fight.

Orihime didn't even hesitate.

"You don't need to worry Urahara-san….I'm ready."

She stood tall between her two friends, chin jutted upwards with her eyes sparkling with determination. She _could _do this. In an ideal world, they would have been given more time to train, but she had been watching Ichigo and the others fight for long enough to know that the best experience was gained in true battle. Besides, she wasn't a novice anymore. She could hold her ground in a fight with ease. Her training with Isshin had proved that.

_We're coming for you Ichigo._

_xoxoxo_

She took no notice of the stares and whispers she gained from her supposed comrades as she made her way through their headquarters.

These people meant nothing to her anyway. They were weak. A hindrance. Her fists clenched of their own accord as she passed a particularly large group who didn't seem embarrassed to be caught staring and gossiping.

Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

Picking up the pace slightly, she hurried past the large group, taking care to glare pointedly in their direction. A small smirk crept over her lips as she noted that they recoiled backwards.

They were terrified of her after all.

After a few more minutes of purposely walking through darkened corridors she came to a large black door.

She knocked twice.

Almost instantaneously the door was pulled open to reveal the elegant chambers of her Master. She cringed as she entered the chambers.

Calling him her Master made her feel sick. But, she supposed it was necessary. To get what she wanted, she needed to stay in his good books and if acting like she was indebted to him would do that, then she would.

"You called for me," she said quietly, bowing her head before she spoke.

"They'll be here soon. Meet them."

She nodded and prepared to take her leave.

"Don't kill them please. Just…test them. Especially her."

"Understood."

And she was gone, back into the shadows.

_xoxoxo_

**A/N: **And thus the Rescue Ichigo Arc begins! Please keep reviewing ^_^


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